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LABOR.    I1CRALD    LIBRARY 
Mo.    1 


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flE  TRADE  Union  EDUCATIONAL 

LEAGUE 


IIS    n.  L>A9ALLE  9T.  — 


SECOND  EDITION 


Militants,  Notice! 


Organize!  Join  the  Trade  Union  Educational 
League.  This  is  a  system  of  informal  committees 
throughout  the  entire  union  movement,  organized  to 
infuse  the  mass  with  revolutionary  understanding  and 
spirit.  It  is  working  for  the  closer  affiliation  and  solidi- 
fication of  our  existing  craft  unions  until  they  have 
been  developed  into  industrial  unions.  Believing  that 
all  workers  should  stand  together  regardless  of  their 
social  or  other  opinions,  it  is  opposed  to  the  common 
policy  of  radical  and  progressive-minded  workers  quit- 
ting the  trade  unions  and  starting  rival  organizations 
based  upon  ideal  principles.  That  policy  is  one  of  the 
chief  reasons  why  the  American  labor  movement  is  not 
further  advanced.  Its  principal  effects  are  to  destroy 
all  radical  organization  in  the  old  unions  and  to  leave 
the  reactionaries  in  undisputed  control. 

The  Trade  Union  Educational  League  is  in  no 
sense  a  dual  union,  nor  is  it  affiliated  with  any  such 
organization.  It  is  purely  an  educational  body  of 
militants  within  existing  mass  unions,  who  are  seeking 
through  the  application  of  modern  methods  to  bring 
the  policies  and  structure  of  the  labor  movement  into 
harmony  with  present  day  economic  conditions.  It 
bespeaks  the  active  cooperation  of  all  militant  union 
workers.  For  further  details  apply  to  the 

Trade  Union  Educational 
League 

118  North  La  Salle  Street,  Chicago 


Labor  Herald  Library 
No.  1. 

The  Railroaders'  Next  Step — 
Amalgamation 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  THIEVING  RAILROADS 

The  supreme  need  of  railroad  men  at  the  present  time  is 
a  consolidation  of  our  many  labor  organizations  into  one 
compact  body.  The  power  of  the  companies  has  become 
so  enormous,  their  solidarity  so  intense,  and  their  greed 
so  voracious,  that  the  prevailing  type  of  federated  craft 
unionism  is  no  longer  able  to  cope  with  the  situation.  If 
we  are  to  maintain  existing  labor  conditions,  not  to  speak 
of  making  further  advances,  we  must  arrive  at  a  more 
solidified  form  of  organization.  The  tremendous  latent 
power  of  the  great  army  of  railroad  workers  will  have  to 
be  fully  developed.  This  can  be  done  successfully  only  by 
the  amalgamation  of  the  sixteen  principal  railroad  craft 
unions  into  one  industrial  union  covering  every  branch  of 
the  railroad  service. 

As  I  write  this  (March,  1922)  events  are  taking  shape 
that  render  more  pressing  than  ever  the  need  for  the  ut- 
most possible  power  and  solidarity  on  the  part  of  all  rail- 
road workers.  The  companies  are  now  making  a  big  drive, 
politically  as  well  as  industrially,  to  crush  the  unions  and 
to  force  us  down  to  serfdom.  They  have  secured  the  pass- 
age of  the  Esch-Cummins  law  limiting  the  right  of  railroad 
men  to  strike.  And  not  content  with  that  they  are  forcing 
through  the  Poindexter  bill,  abolishing  this  right  alto- 
gether and  providing  fines,  of  from  $500  to  $10,000  and  im- 
prisonment not  to  exceed  ten  years  for  those  who  even 
"solicit,  advise,  induce  or  persuade,  or  attempt  to  induce 
or  persuade"  railroad  workers  to  quit  their  jobs.  Besides 

977439 


2  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

this  they  have  induced  the  pliable  Railroad  Labor  Board 
to  abolish  the  national  agreements,  and  in  many  cases  the 
eight  hour  day  itself ;  wages  have  been  slashed  to  the  bone 
and  more  reductions  are  in  sight.  Piece  work  is  being 
established  on  many  roads,  likewise  company  unions.  In 
fact  the  railroads  are  carrying  on  a  great  drive — which  is 
^all  top  ;  stl£Ge§sful — to  reestablish  pre-war  conditions  of 
slavery 'for  t'he^ir  workers.  The  only  way  this  campaign 
<iaft  '£e;  j-esjs^Gd...  effectively  is  for  the  workers  on  the  rail- 
'roa3s  t'6  tfevelbp  the  strongest,  most  closely-knit  organiza- 
tion possible.  And  this  cannot  be  achieved  until  the  entire 
body  of  them  are  fused  together  into  one  all-inclusive  or- 
ganization. 

This  anti-union  campaign  is,  of  course,  calculated  to  re- 
duce railroad  workers  to  utter  helplessness  so  that  we  may 
be  ruthlessly  exploited  by  the  railroad  owners.  The  latter 
are  in  business  solely  for  profit.  In  their  greed  to  make 
money  they  consider  all  means  legitimate.  They  are  the 
biggest  single  gang  of  thieves  in  the  world.  Humanity  and 
fair  play  cut  no  figure  with  them.  So  long  as  their  own 
profits  are  forthcoming  they  care  not  a  rap  for  the  suffer- 
ings of  their  workers.  That  is  why  they  have  so  bitterly 
fought  every  working  improvement  in  the  railroad  indus- 
try ;  collective  bargaining,  better  wages,  shorter  hours,  the 
sixteen-hour  law,  the  safety  appliance  laws,  etc.  Because 
it  paid  them  well,  they  were  entirely  content  to  have  their 
workers  exhausted  by  from  25  to  60-hour  runs,  abused  like 
dogs  by  tyrannical  foremen,  pauperized  by  low  wages,  de- 
stroyed by  piecework  systems,  crushed  to  death  by  faulty 
equipment,  etc.,  etc.  The  only  protection  the  workers  have 
had  from  the  most  savage  exploitation,  the  sole  thing  that 
has  kept  us  from  sinking  into  complete  degradation  is  our 
trade  unions.  These  organizations  have  achieved  results 
entirely  upon  the  basis  of  the  amount  of  power  they  have 
been  able  to  exert.  The  railroad  owners  can  appreciate 
no  other  argument  than  that  of  might.  With  them  might 
is  right. 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  3 

Plundering  the  Public  Domain 

In  order  to  develop  a  militant  union  policy  the  very  first 
requisite  for  railroad  workers  is  a  clear  understanding  of 
what  powerful  and  unscrupulous  crooks  are  our  opponents, 
the  companies.  Hence,  in  the  following  pages  will  be  cited 
some  of  the  shady  exploits  of  the  transportation  magnates  ;* 

From  its  very  inception  railroading  in  this  country  has 
been  a  process  of  brazen  thievery.  Every  means  that  hu- 
man ingenuity  could  devise  has  been  used  without  stint  or 
limit  to  prostitute  the  nation's  transportation  system  to  the 
benefit  of  a  few  social  parasites.  Merciless  exploitation  of 
the  workers,  land-grabbing,  stock-watering,  rebating,  brib- 
ing of  legislators  and  judges,  embezzlement,  perjury — these 
are  some  of  the  criminal  methods  habitually  resorted  to 
in  building  up  the  present  ownership  of  the  giant  railroads. 
The  man  who  could  figure  out  some  new  scheme  to  rob 
the  people  was  hailed  as  a  great  inventor  by  the  railroad 
crooks;  and  his  fortune  was  made.  The  cleverest  thief  has 
always  been  the  most  successful  railroad  magnate. 

A  rich  source  of  plunder  for  the  railroad  owners  was  the 
Government  land.  They  literally  stole  an  empire  of  it. 
Their  usual  method  was  to  have  corrupt  lobbyists  push  bills 
through  the  National  and  State  legislatures  giving  them 
vast  grants  of  land  for  building  the  railroads.  Thus  the 
Northern  Pacific  got  47,000,000  acres,  the  Southern  Pacific 
18,000,000,  the  Union  Pacigc  22,000,000,  and  others  accord- 
ingly, until  160,000,000  acres  in  all  oi  the  people's  heritage 
had  been  stolen.  This  enormous  stretch  of  land  is  equal 
in  extent  to  the  states  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont, 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio  and  In- 
diana. It  fell  into  the  maw  of  the  railroad  thieves. 


*A11  railroad  workers  should  read  Gustavus  Myers'  "History  of  the  Great 
American  Fortunes,"  and  C.  E.  Russell's  "Stories  of  the  Great  Railroads." 
Both  are  full  ©f  well-authenticated  accounts  of  the  amazinpr  robberies  com- 
mitted upon  the  American  people  by  the  railroad  companies.  Many  of  the 
incidents  cited  in  this  chapter  are  taken  from  their  pages.  The  books  are 
procurable  from  Chas.  H.  Kerr  &  Co..  Chicago. 


4  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

Most  of  this  is  rich  farming,  mineral  and  timber  land.  It 
is  now  worth  billions  of  dollars.  One  unacquainted  with  the 
greed  of  the  railroad  companies  might  think  that  they  would 
have  been  satisfied  with  this  gigantic  steal.  But  not  they ; 
they  are  money  mad ;  they  want  the  whole  country.  It 
happened  that  some  of  their  land  grants  included  desert 
land;  so,  in  the  guise  of  helping  poor  settlers,  they  had  a 
law  passed  allowing  anyone  who  had  received  government 
desert  land  to  exchange  it  for  government  farming  land. 
Then  they  hastily  dumped  in  50,000,000  acres  of  desert  land 
and  took  in  exchange,  not  farming  land,  but  50,000,000  acres 
of  Northwest  timber  land,  the  finest  on  the  globe.  This 
was  a  typical  railroad  fraud. 

Besides  the  land  grants,  the  Government  (inspired  to  ac- 
tion by  big  campaigns  of  open  bribery)  gave  the  early  rail- 
road builders  large  money  subsidies.  These  were  a  fruit- 
ful source  of  loot.  For  example,  the  men  behind  the  cor- 
rupt Central  Pacific  got  in  land  and  other  subsidies  $86,000,- 
000  wherewith  to  build  their  road.  The  total  cost  of  build- 
ing, including  the  greatest  extravagance  and  graft,  was 
$42,000,000.  The  remaining  $44,000,000  of  the  Government 
gift  they  calmly  pocketed.  Thus  the  Government  paid  for 
the  road  twice  over  and  still  it  belonged  to  Huntington  and 
his  fellow-crooks.  These  gentlemen,  whose  descendants 
are  highly  honored  citizens,  started  out  in  1861  with  a  capi- 
tal of  $108,987.  Twenty-three  years  later  they  had  suc- 
ceeded in  stealing  5,906  miles  of  railroad  capitalized  at  $454,- 
000,000,  not  to  mention  other  properties.  Up  till  the  pres- 
ent time  this  project  has  yielded  its  owners  $700,000,000— 
that  is  to  say,  the  grafters  have  been  paid  enough  to  build 
their  roads  seven  times  over  and  still  they  own  them  com- 
plete'y- 

Robbing  One  Another 

It  would  be  wrong,  however,  to  leave  the  impression  that 
the  lailroad  magnates  have  confined  their  efforts  to  ex- 
ploiting Labor  and  defrauding  the  Government.  That 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  5 

would  be  to  misrepresent  their  nefarious  business  ethics. 
Their  policy  is  to  grab  everything  in  sight  that  is  not 
nailed  down,  no  matter  whom  it  may  belong  to.  They  are 
impartial  in  the  matter.  They  rob  each  other  as  freely  as 
they  do  outsiders.  A  time-honored  device  to  do  this  is  for 
the  controlling  clique  in  a  company  to  milk  the  rest  of  the 
stockholders  (and  thus  the  people  at  large)  by  setting  up 
an  outside  company,  owned  by  themselves,  to  do  construc- 
tion and  repair  work  for  the  parent  railroad  and  then  vot- 
ing it  contracts  at  fabulous  prices.  Thus  the  grafters  have 
sucked  in  millions  and  millions  of  dollars  in  ill-gotten  gains, 
and  thus  many  a  railroad  has  been  bled  white,  thrown  into 
a  receiver's  hands  and  left  for  the  people  to  re-finance.  We 
see  the  same  policy  in  operation  at  the  present  time,  with 
the  railroads  letting  out  immense  quantities  of  work  to 
"independent"  equipment  companies  while  their  own  shops 
and  workers  stand  idte. 

Bitter,  dog-eat-dog  wars  have  raged  between  rival  in- 
terests for  many  years  over  the  control  of  the  railroads. 
In  these  brutal  encounters  the  law  of  fang  and  claw  prevail. 
Everything  from  petty  larceny  to  murder  is  considered 
legitimate.  The  struggle  for  the  Erie  was  typical :  Orig- 
inally this  road  was  built  by  public  subscription,  but  as 
usual  a  bunch  of  thieves  got  title  to  it.  They  sucked  it 
dry  with  the  customary  methods,  and  finally  lost  it  to  one 
Daniel  Drew  by  a  mortgage  foreclosure.  Drew  used  the 
road  for  speculative  purposes,  making  millions.  But  the 
greedy  Vanderbilt,  whom  Gustavus  Myers  calls  "the  fore- 
most blackmailer  of  his  time,  the  plunderer  of  the  National 
Treasury  in  the  Civil  War,  the  arch-briber  and  corruption- 
ist,"  outwitted  him,  ruined  him  and  seized  the  road.  He 
made  the  mistake,  however,  of  putting  Drew,  Jay  Gould 
and  Jim  Fisk  in  charge  of  it.  These  worthies  promptly 
double-crossed  him  and,  by  an  illegal  issue  of  stock,  got 
control.  Vanderbilt's  crooked  judge  thereupon  issued  an 
order  against  them.  But  they  fled  his  jurisdiction  with 
$7,000,000  in  cash,  the  proceeds  of  their  robbery.  Later  on 


6  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

Gould  and  Fisk  bribed  the  New  York  Legislature  for  $500,- 
000  to  make  their  stock  issue  legal.  This  left  them  mas- 
ters of  the  situation.  Then,  freed  from  the  threat  of  jail, 
they  turned  on  their  partner,  Drew,  and  bankrupted  him. 
Some  time  afterward  Fisk  was  shot,  and  finally  Gould  was 
ousted  by  an  English  syndicate  that,  copying  Gould's  meth- 
ods, spent  $750,000  in  bribery  to  do  the  job.  Eventually 
the  road  fell  into  the  grip  of  the  great  railroad  octopus, 
Morgan  &  Co.,  and  there  it  still  remains.  For  these  jungle 
fights,  which  raged  everywhere,  of  course  the  workers  had 
to  pay  the  bill. 

When  the  workers  demand  a  few  cents  more  per  hour 
in  wages  the  railroad  companies  always  raise  a  howl  about 
the  dire  things  that  will  happen  to  the  widow  and  orphan 
stockholders.  But  in  their  own  brutal  struggles  for  finan- 
cial mastery  they  show  no  mercy  to  these  elements.  The 
robbery  of  the  widow  Colton  was  a  case  in  point :  Colonel 
Colton,  her  husband,  was  one  of  the  four  men  who  en- 
gineered the  notorious  Central  Pacific  land-grabbing,  stock- 
jobbing steals  for  many  years.  It  might  have  been  thought 
that  when  he  died  his  three  partners  in  guilt  would  have 
shown  his  widow  some  consideration.  But  the  principles  of 
humanity  never  trouble  railroad  magnates.  True  to  their 
kind,  and  like  a  pack  of  wolves  rending  one  of  their  number 
that  has  fallen,  the  three  remaining  partners  stole  almost 
the  last  cent  Mrs.  Colton  had.  To  do  this  they  had  to  bribe 
her  confidential  adviser,  her  lawyer  and  a  judge.  But  such 
matters  are  only  details  in  the  day's  work  of  railroad 
owners. 

A  Sea  of  Watered  Stock 

A  favorite  thieving  device  is  the  watering  of  railroad 
company  stocks.  Every  worker  should  know  how  this 
chicanery  is  operated.  Let  us  explain  it  briefly :  Suppose, 
for  instance,  a  certain  railroad  is  capitalized  at  $100,000,000. 
To  water  its  stock  the  controlling  capitalists,  on  the  pre- 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  7 

text  of  improving  the  property,  issue,  say,  another  $100,- 
000,000  of  stock.  Thus  the  burden  of  the  industry  is  dou- 
bled. Thereafter  it  has  to  pay  dividends  upon  $200,000,000 
instead  of  $100,000,000.  The  advantages  .to  the  crooks 
engineering  the  hocus-pocus  are  many.  For  one  thing  they 
are  enabled  to  steal  scores  of  millions  at  a  blow;  and  an- 
other is  that  the  resultant  cutting  of  the  dividend  rate 
(which  in  the  case  cited  would  be  50  per  cent)  puts  the 
road  in  the  position  of  being  poverty-stricken  and  furnishes 
an  excellent  excuse  for  beating  down  wages  and  screwing 
up  passenger  and  freight  rates.  When,  however,  through 
wage-cutting,  rate-raising  and  the  natural  increase  in  busi- 
ness, the  dividend  rate  rises  on  the  watered  stock,  then  the 
crooks  inject  more  water  and  the  whole  process  is  gone 
over  again. 

By  means  of  this  watered  stock  swindle  every  railroad 
system  in  the  United  States  has  been  used  as  an  instrument 
of  extortion  and  robbery.  Dozens  of  railroads  have  had 
their  equipment  ruined  and  themselves  thrown  into  bank- 
ruptcy because  of  it.  At  a  hearing  a  few  years  ago  in 
conection  with  the  financial  wrecking  of  the  Rock  Island 
it  was  found  that  the  Moore  &  Reid  interests  had  poured 
$350,000,000  of  watered  stock  into  the  original  capitalization 
of  $75,000,000.  It  was  more  than  the  road  could  stand  and 
it  went  under.  In  1907,  according  to  C.  E.  Russell,  of  the 
$409,946,845  capitalization  of  the  New  York  Central,  at 
the  very  least  $175,000,000  was  nothing  but  water.  By 
watered  stock  and  other  crooked  schemes  the  infamous 
Credit  Mobilier  gang  similiarly  ruined  the  Union  Pacific. 
Then,  when  everyone  thought  it  had  been  bled  to  death, 
Russell  Sage  and  Jay  Gould  came  along  and  stole  another 
$100,000,000  from  it.  Later,  Standard  Oil,  operating 
through  Harriman,  got  the  road  and  is  now  exploiting  it 
more  vigorously  than  ever.  Up  to  1908  the  Great  North- 
ern clique,  grace  to  their  various  land-grabbings  and  stock- 
waterings,  had  taken  in  profits  from  that  rich  property  and 
had  values  in  sight  to  the  enormous  amount  of  $1,526,016,- 


8 .  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

521.  Investigating  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hart- 
ford, which  had  collapsed  financially,  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  found  that  the  bandits  owning  that 
concern  had  increased  its  capital  stock  1500  per  cent  in 
eight  years,  and  had  pocketed  almost  all  of  the  money. 

The  general  result  of  this  stock-watering  continued  over 
many  years,  has  been  to  enormously  over-capitalize  the 
railroad  industry.  Many  experts  declare  that  all  the  rail- 
roads in  the  United  States  could  be  replaced  for  ten  billion 
dollars.  But  the  companies  have  them  capitalized  at  nine- 
teen billions,  and  insist  upon  returns  on  that  basis.  And 
the  powers-that-be  are  quick  to  recognize  their  claims.  The 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  is  always  very  obliging 
in  the  matter  of  rates.  And  the  Government  does  what  it 
can,  too.  The  infamous  Esch-Cummins  law,  which  Sen- 
ator LaFollette  fittingly  characterized  as  marking  "the  un- 
conditional surrender  of  Congress  to  Wall  Street,"  guaran- 
teed the  railroads  a  return  of  at  least  5^  per  cent  on  their 
swollen  capitalization  during  its  term.  Under  its  provi- 
sions the  railroads  were  paid  on  the  basis  of  $940,000,000 
per  year,  or  at  the  rate  of  enough  to  rebuild  all  of  them  in 
ten  years.  Such  a  price  are  we  compelled  to  pay  for  being 
dominated  and  abused  by  our  railroad  autocracy. 

To  share  in  the  great  loot  from  the  railroads  there  were 
officially  listed  on  December  31st,  1918,  647,689  stockhold- 
ers. But  many  of  this  number  are  duplications,  because 
although  one  individual  may  hold  stock  in  numerous  com- 
panies he  is  counted  separately  for  each  holding.  It  is 
extremely  doubtful  if  the  total  number  of  railroad  stock- 
holders will  run  over  100,000.  And  the  great  majority  of 
these  are  small  fry,  owning  only  a  share  or  two  apiece.  It 
has  been  estimated  that  one  per  cent  of  all  the  stock- 
holdrs  own  over  50  per  cent  of  all  the  stock.  It  is  to  sup- 
port in  luxury  this  minority  of  parasites  that  the  vast  army 
of  1,850,000  railroad  workers  keep  the  235,000  miles  of  rail- 
roads in  operation  for  beggarly  wages  and  under  the  most 
unfavorable  working  conditions. 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  9 

The  Big  Fish  Eat  the  Little  Ones 

The  foregoing  examples  of  orthodox  railroad  methods 
will  suffice  to  indicate  the  moral  caliber  of  the  unprincipled 
lot  who  have  managed  to  steal  their  way  into  ownership 
of  our  transportation  systems.  Now,  let  us  glance  for  a 
few  moments  at  the  way  in  which  they  are  concentrating 
and  consolidating  their  forces,  in  order  to  exploit  Labor 
the  better. 

The  pioneer  railroad  capitalists  were  men  of  compara- 
tively small  means.  In  the  early  days  hundreds  of  small 
companies  sprang  up,  each  operating  a  little  stretch  of  rail- 
road, furnishing  transportation  to  a  limited  district.  But 
soon  a  strong  current  towards  combination  set  in.  Gradu- 
ally the  stronger  financial  groups  absorbed  the  weaker  ones 
(mostly  by  chicanery  and  fraud)  and  linked  their  many 
little  "jerk-water"  roads  together,  eventually  building  up 
the  gigantic  railroad  systems  of  today. 

The  history  of  the  New  York  Central  is  typical :  Orig- 
inally between  New  York  and  Buffalo,  the  present  main 
line  of  the  New  York  Central,  there  were  sixteen  separate 
railroads,  each  owned  and  operated  by  a  distinct  company. 
But  the  notorious  Vanderbilt — he  who  gave  expression  to 
the  two  working  principles  of  capitalistic  railroading; 
namely,  "All  the  traffic  will  bear,"  and  "The  public  be 
damned" — grabbed  control  of  all  these  petty  roads  and 
jammed  them  into  one.  Then  he  reached  out  and  seized, 
one  after  the  other,  a  whole  series  of  big  railroad  systems, 
including  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern,  Michigan 
Central,  Big  Four,  Pittsburgh  &  Lake  Erie,  Boston  &  Al- 
bany, Erie,  etc.,  each  of  which  in  turn  had  been  built  up  of 
many  small  roads.  Besides  this,  the  growing  octopus  se- 
cured strong  hold  of  such  roads  as  the  Delaware  &  Hud- 
son ;  Delaware,  Lackawanna  &  Western ;  Philadelphia  & 
Reading;  New  York,  Ontario  &  Western;  Lehigh  Valley, 
etc.,  and  large  numbers  of  trolley  lines,  coal  mines,  indus- 


10  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

trial  plants,  express  and  telegraph  companies,  etc.,  etc.  It 
is  an  industrial  Colossus. 

Another  case  in  point  is  that  of  the  great  New  York, 
New  Haven  &  Hartford  system,  controlled  by  the  Morgan 
interests :  Like  the  New  ^ork  Central,  this  company  built 
itself  up  from  a  lot  of  smaller  ones,  until,  at  last,  it  had 
secured  a  stranglehold  on  the  entire  railroad  transportation 
system  of  New  England.  Then  it  proceeded  to  secure  an 
almost  complete  monopoly  of  water  traffic  in  its  territory 
by  absorbing  the  Fall  River  Line,  Stonington  Line,  New 
Bedford  Line,  New  Haven  Line,  Maine  Steamship  Com- 
pany, Bridgeport  Line,  Hartford  Line,  Rock  Island  Line, 
and  many  so-called  independent  steamship  companies.  And, 
finally,  it  sought  to  do  the  same  thing  with  the  trolley 
lines.  By  means  of  flagrant  legislative  corruption  it  se- 
cured control  of  the  entire  electric  transportation  systems 
of  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts.  Thus,  in 
transportation  of  all  sorts,  the  New  York,  New  Haven  & 
Hartford  was  dictator  for  the  several  states  in  which  it 
operated. 

The  titanic  Pennsylvania  Lines  were  similarly  brought 
about  by  the  assimilation  of  small  roads  and  affiliated  in- 
dustries. It  is  now  accredited  with  21,389  miles  of  track- 
age, the  ownership  of  72  subsidiary  railroad  companies  and 
heavy  interests  in  254  related  industries.  Normally  it  em- 
ploys about  275,000  workers. 

The  tendency  towards  consolidation  shown  in  the  three 
big  systems  cited  above  manifests  itself  in  all  sections  of 
the  railroad  industry.  Already  the  whole  business  has  re- 
solved itself  into  a  few  financial  groups.  In  1916  the  World 
Almanac  (page  216)  listed  these  groups  as  follows : 

Name                             Mileage  Stocks  Bonds 

Vanderbilt  26,126  $    628,924,000  $    765,441,600 

Pennsylvania    21,389  779,916,000  576,600,000 

Harriman       22,716  756,600,000  1,098,775,400 

Hill   .                          ..  14,183  417,527,000  432,812,000 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 


11 


Name                          Milage  Stocks  Bonds 

Morgan   14,117  573,619,000  545,118,000 

Gould 22,318  541,220,000  822,613,000 

Moore-Reid  29,173  372,906,000  490,209,000 

Rockefellers   18,119  259,116,000  319,204,000 

Walters 11,914  150,116,000  204,119,000 

Erb   Syndicate 13,104  345,100,000  524,146,000 

Independent    34,069  653,108,000  486,113,000 

Total 227,228    $5,478, 1 52,000    $6,265, 1 5 1 ,000 

Since  this  table  was  compiled  many  changes  have  taken 
place  in  railroad  ownership.  The  monopolization  of  the 
industry  has  proceeded  apace.  A  close  study  now  demon- 
strates (The  New  Majority  Chicago,  March  5th,  1921)  that 
financial  control  of  the  systems  as  a  whole  has  simmered 
down  practically  to  four  great,  closely-related,  interlocked 
capitalistic  interests ;  viz.,  Morgan  &  Co.,  The  National  City 
Bank  (Rockefeller  group),  The  First  National  Bank  of 
New  York  (Baker  group)  and  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Co.  It  is  said 
that  Morgan  &  Co.  alone  control  300  railroad  directorships, 
besides  owning  54  "independent"  railroad  equipment  and 
construction  plants  and  innumerable  other  enterprises. 

The  time  is  close  at  hand — if  it  has  not  already  arrived 
unbeknown  to  us — when  our  entire  transportation  system 
will  be  ruled  by  a  single  financial  interest.  And  at  its  head, 
backed  by  the  nineteen  billions  of  railroad  capital  and  un- 
told billions  from  other  industries,  will  stand  some  super- 
Gary,  the  industrial  emperor  of  America. 

Workers  Versus  Exploiters 

This  tremendous  consolidation  and  combination  of  the 
enemy's  forces  is  of  vital  importance  to  railroad  Labor. 
In  years  gone  by  there  was  real  competition  on  the  rail- 
roads. Between  the  many  independent  companies  rate 
wars  raged.  Often  in  these  struggles  passenger  and 


12  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

freight  schedules  were  slashed  to  the  bone.  In  one  mem- 
orable case  a  transcontinental  railroad  reduced  its  passenger 
fare  from  Chicago  to  California  to  $1.00.  Whereupon  its 
rival  retaliated  not  only  by  cutting  its  rate  to  $1.00  like- 
wise, but  also  by  furnishing  free  meals  to  its  patrons  en 
route. 

Naturally,  such  unorganized,  competitive  conditions 
played  into  the  hands  of  Organized  Labor  and  made  its 
fight  easier.  If  the  unions  tied  up  a  road  the  other  roads 
usually  left  it  to  its  fate.  They  seldom  gave  it  any  prac- 
tical assistance,  instead  they  grabbed  what  they  could  of 
its  business.  The  consequence  was  that  the  companies 
were  reluctant  to  enter  into  strikes,  and  comparatively 
more  eager  to  settle  them  when  they  did  occur. 

But  now  things  are  altogether  different.  This  is  the  era 
of  railroad  monopoly.  Competition  has  been  almost  en- 
tirely eliminated.  On  the  employers'  side  the  railroad  in- 
dustry is  practically  united  into  one  country-wide  organ- 
ism. National  ownership  has  been  concentrated  into  the 
hands  of  a  few  magnates,  keenly  conscious  of  their  mu- 
tual interests ;  the  national  rate-making  power  is  wielded 
by  the  tractable  (to  the  companies)  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission — rate  wars  are  now  merely  a  matter  of  his- 
tory ;  the  national  administration  of  labor-  matters  is  looked 
after  by  the  Association  of  Railway  Executives ;  and  the 
national  technical  problems  are  handled  by  the  American 
Railroad  Association.*  Everywhere  is  system,  organiza- 
tion, standardization.  And  now  it  is  proposed  in  powerful 
railroad  circles  to  secure  legislation  fusing  all  the  railroads 
into  one  gigantic  system  of  ownership  and  operation.  This 
is  the  logical  outcome  of  the  ceaseless  tendency  towards 
combination. 


*The  American  Railroad  Association  is  a  recent  amalgamation  of  the 
American  Railway  Master  Mechanics'  Association;  Association  of  Railway 
Telegraph  Superintendents;  Association  of  Transportation  and  Car  Accounting 
Offices;  Freight  Claim  Association;  Railway  Storehouse  Keepers'  Association, 
etc.  It  is  divided  into  five  departments:  Operating,  Engineering^  Mechanical, 
Traffic,  Transportation.  If  the  need  arose  it  would  prove  an  efficient  strike- 
breaking agency. 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  13 

Now  the  effect  of  all  this  consolidation  and  interlocking 
of  company  interests  is  to  make  railroad  Labor's  fight  much 
more  severe.  Today  when  the  unions  enter  into  battle 
with  one  company  they  have  them  all  to  fight.  No  more 
do  other  roads  abandon  one  that  has  a  fight  on  its  hands, 
or  try  to  take  advantage  of  its  crippled  condition.  Far 
from  it !  Now  they  rush  to  its  support,  furnishing  it  with 
financial  backing,  re-routing  its  traffic  over  their  lines,  lend- 
ing it  locomotives  and  cars,  etc.  Thus,  through  co-opera- 
tion with  one  another,  the  resisting  power  of  all  the  com- 
panies is  enormously  increased.  Moreover,  they  have  the 
united  support  of  the  courts,  the  newspapers,  the  banks, 
and  the  industrial  interests  generally. 

This  is  a  situation  which  the  railroad  unions,  on  pain  of 
extinction,  must  meet  effectively.  And  they  can  do  so  only 
by  the  complete  elimination  of  the  competitive  principle 
from  their  own  ranks.  Faced  by  a  united  opposition,  we 
railroad  men  cannot  afford  to  have  sectionalism,  such  as 
now  exists,  in  our  forces.  We  must  not  allow  one  part  of 
our  organization  to  be  played  off  against  the  rest.  We 
must  present  an  unbroken  front  to  the  enemy.  The  rail- 
road union  situation  must  be  brought  to  a  uniform,  national 
proposition.  To  do  this  it  is  necessary  to  amalgamate  the 
sixteen  railroad  craft  unions  into  one  industrial  union. 

Now  let  us  see  to  what  extent  in  their  long  years  of 
experience  with  unionism,  the  railroad  workers  have  under- 
stood the  need  for  closer  affiliation,  what  has  been  done 
about  it,  and  how  the  next  step  should  be  taken. 


14  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

CHAPTER  II. 
THE  FAILURE  OF  DUAL  UNIONISM 

Faced  by  the  growing  power  and  limitless  greed  of  the 
railroad  companies,  railroad  workers  have  for  many  years 
past  sensed  more  and  more  clearly  the  need  for  the  great- 
est possible  solidarity  among  themselves.  In  the  main  this 
urge  for  united  action  may  be  said  to  have  expressed  it- 
self in  two  general  ways:  (1)  Utopian  dual  unionism,  (2) 
natural  trade  unionism.  The  dual  unionism  has  been  a 
product  mostly  of  the  more  militant  and  energetic  minori- 
ties, chiefly  radicals,  among  the  railroad  workers.  These 
minorities,  consciously  weighing  the  factors  in  hand  as 
best  they  could  and  with  an  intense  desire  for  united  ac- 
tion, have  for  many  years  advocated  the  founding  of  an 
industrial  union  to  include  all  railroad  men.  With  charac- 
teristic impatience  they  have  believed  that  this  could  be 
done  only  by  discarding  the  old  trade  unions  altogether 
and  starting  afresh  with  a  new,  theoretically  perfect  or- 
ganization. On  the  other  hand,  the  natural  trade  union- 
ism is  a  product  of  the  sluggish,  conservative  masses.  More 
or  less  blindly  and  without  plan,  the  latter  have  re-acted 
to  the  pressure  of  the  companies,  first  by  joining  together 
into  the  most  primitive  types  of  unions,  and  then,  gradually 
extending  and  developing  them  into  ever-more  wide-spread- 
ing and  inclusive  organizations,  as  the  need  for  such  be- 
came apparent.  The  method  of  the  radical  minorities  has 
been  largely  to  leap  into  industrial  unionism,  whereas  that 
of  the  conservative  masses  is  to  drift  into  it  gradually. 

The  question  of  solidarity  is  one  of  paramount  interest 
and  importance  to  railroaders,  but  there  is  an  appalling  con- 
fusion and  lack  of  knowledge  about  the  whole  matter.  A 
large  body  of  radicals  still  have  a  highly  unwarranted  faith 
in  the  dual  industrial  program,  and,  together  with  the  con- 
servatives, are  very  much  in  ignorance  of  the  true  signifi- 
cance of  the  evolution  towards  greater  solidarity  constantly 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  15 

taking  place  in  the  old  trade  unions.  Hence,  before  we 
can  hope  to  successfully  outline  a  rational  program  for 
further  strengthening  railroad  unionism,  we  must  examine 
in  detail  what  has  resulted  from  the  radicals'  conscious 
striving  for  industrial  unionism  and  the  conservatives'  un- 
conscious drift  in  the  same  general  direction  and  profit 
from  the  lessons  both  tendencies  have  to  teach  us.  Let 
us  first  consider  what  has  been  accomplished  by  dual  union- 
ism: 

« 

Knights  of  Labor  and  American  Railway  Union. 

The  railroad  craft  unions  were  in  their  infancy  when 
the  dual  unionists  began  to  set  afloat  their  all-inclusive  in- 
dustrial unions.  And  they  have  followed  their  separatist 
policy  vigorously  for  a  generation,  even  up  till  the  present 
day.  During  this  long  period  they  have  launched  manv 
such  organizations,  all  of  which  have  gone  down  to  deteat. 
Let  us  glance  briefly  at  the  most  striking  examples : 

The  first  important  attempt  to  disregard  the  trade  unions 
and  to  form  a  general  union  of  railroaders  occurred  in 
1877,  when  R.  H.  Ammon,  in  Pittsburgh,  founded  an  or- 
ganization to  include  engineers,  firemen,  conductors,  train- 
men and  yardmen.  The  companies  were  slashing  wages 
right  and  left,  and  the  new  union  was  designed  to  stop 
them.  But  it  soon  collapsed  because  of  internal  difficulties 
Shortly  afterward,  however,  the  deep  discontent  of  the 
men  blazed  forth  spontaneously  in  one  of  the  greatest 
and  most  violent  railroad  strikes  in  history,  that  of  July- 
August,  1877. 

But  a  far  more  serious  and  extensive  effort  was  the  one 
made  by  the  Knights  of  Labor  not  long  afterward.  This 
famous  organization  was  frankly  revolutionary  and  aimed 
to  combine  the  whole  working  class  into  one  union.  It 
was  formed  in  1869,  but  for  the  first  dozen  years  of  its  life 
it  led  an  anaemic  existence.  In  the  middle  '80's,  however,  it 
caught  the  imagination  of  the  masses  and  raged  across  the 
country  like  a  prairie  fire.  Hundreds  of  thousands  were 


16  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

swept  into  its  ranks,  among  whom  were  large  numbers  of 
railroad  workers.  The  organization  secured  an  especially 
strong  grip  on  several  Western  and  Southwestern  roads, 
winning  big  strikes  on  the  Union  Pacific,  Wabash,  Missouri 
Pacific,  Missouri,  Kansas  &  Texas,  etc.,  in  1884-5.  But  the 
following  year  the  wily  and  unscrupulous  Jay  Gould 
crushed  the  union  on  these  roads  in  a  bitterly  fought  two 
months'  strike.  A  few  years  later,  as  the  power  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor  waned  generally  throughout  the  country, 
its  railroad  organization  went  to  pieces,  leaving  the  em- 
battled, feeble  craft  unions  alone  in  the  field. 

But  not  for  long;  soon  the  greatest  of  all  dual  railroad 
unions  was  under  way.  This  was  the  American  Railway 
Union,  launched  by  Eugene  V.  Debs  and  a  few  others  in 
Chicago  in  1893.  It  was  opposed  by  the  craft  unions,  but 
as  they  were  still  weak,  they  could  offer  no  effective  re- 
sistance and  it  spread  rapidly  over  the  systems.  By  the 
Spring  of  1894  it  was  said  to  have  465  local  lodges  and 
about  150,000  members.  It  included  all  classes  of  railroad 
workers. 

Its  first  struggle  with  the  employers  came  in  April,  1894, 
on  the  Great  Northern.  That  system  was  tied  up  from  end 
to  end  by  a  general  strike.  The  autocratic  Jim  Hill  capit- 
ulated after  eighteen  days,  coming  to  terms  with  the  or- 
ganization. But  this  brilliant  victory  bred  an  over-confi- 
dence among  the  men  that  soon  brought  about  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  union.  In  an  effort  to  force  a  settlement  of 
the  then  pending  Pullman  strike,  the  militant  railroad  men 
placed  a  boycott  against  all  Pullman  cars  which  action  pro- 
duced a  general  strike,  June  26th,  1894,  on  twenty-four 
roads  centering  in  Chicago. 

The  tieup  was  highly  effective  and  the  companies  were 
on  the  way  to  defeat,  when  the  Government  and  courts  took 
a  hand.  Troops  were  rushed  to  Chicago ;  injunctions  were 
issued  against  the  strikers ;  their  leaders  were  jailed,  and 
such  a  general  reign  of  terror  set  up  that  the  conservative 
mass  became  terrified  and  straggled  back  to  work.  Before 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  17 

three  weeks  had  passed  the  strike  was  lost.  The  A.  R.  U. 
lingered  along  until  1897,  when  it  turned  itself  into  a  co- 
operative political  organization — the  Social  Democratic 
Party,  forerunner  of  the  present  Socialist  Party. 

The  advent  of  the  American  Railway  Union,  as  is  always 
the  case  with  dual  organizations,  did  great  harm  to  the 
railroad  craft  unions.  All  of  them  were  weakened  and 
some  nearly  destroyed.  Thousands  of  their  best  members 
quit  them  to  take  part  in  the  A.  R.  U.,  only  to  find  them- 
selves blacklisted  out  of  the  railroad  service  later  on  be- 
cause of  the  lost  strike.  The  case  of  Debs  himself  is  a 
striking  example  of  the  damage  done.  When  he  resigned 
his  position  as  General  Secretary-Treasurer  and  editor  of 
the  official  journal  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Fire- 
men in  order  to  form  the  A.  R.  U.,  he  was  a  great  force 
for  progress  in  the  old  unions.  Had  he  but  stayed  with 
them  he  would  have  been  a  big  factor  in  their  future  devel- 
opment. But  he  was  lost  to  them,  and  that  they  have  suf- 
fered much  in  consequence  no  unbiased  observer  will  deny. 
This  constant  sucking  of  the  best  blood  out  of  the  craft 
unions  is  one  of  the  very  worst  features  of  dual  industrial 
unionism. 

A  Flock  of  Dual  Unions 

Hard  upon  the  heels  of  the  American  Railway  Union 
came  a  whole  series  of  dual  unions  on  the  railroads,  some 
of  them  being  but  parts  of  general  separatist  movements, 
whilst  others  specialized  in  railroad  workers  alone.  But 
all  were  alike  in  that  they  advocated  the  industrial  form  of 
organization  and  sought  to  realize  it  by  going  outside  of 
the  old  unions  and  beginning  anew.  They  are  also  alike 
in  that  none  of  them  succeeded  in  establishing  itself  firmly 
on  the  railroads. 

The  first  of  these  dual  unions  was  the  Socialist  Trades 
and  Labor  Alliance,  organized  in  1895.  A  general  labor  or- 
ganization, it  made  war  upon  the  whole  trade  union  move- 
ment. But  it  secured  little  or  no  hold  on  the  railroads. 


18  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

In  1905  it  was  one  of  the  organizations  that  were  merged 
together  to  form  the  I.  W.  W. 

An  organization  somewhat  similar  to  the  S.  T.  &  L.  A. 
was  the  Western  Labor  Union,  organized  in  1898  by  the 
Western  Federation  of  Miners.  It  was  designed  to  sup- 
plant the  entire  existing  labor  movement,  the  railroad  or- 
ganizations included.  But  it  was  still-born,  and  after  an 
anagmic  struggle  re-named  itself  the  American  Labor 
Union.  It  later  went  to  make  part  of  the  I.  W.  W.  at  the 
latter's  foundation.  At  no  time  did  it  become  strong  in 
the  railroad  industry. 

A  much  more  militant  dual  union  on  the  railroads  was 
the  United  Brotherhood  of  Railway  Employes.  This  or- 
ganization was  started  in  1900.  It  worked  mostly  in  the 
West,  and  succeeded  in  getting  a  strong  hold  on  several 
roads  in  that  section.  It  had  agreements  with  a  few  com- 
panies. But  it  finally  went  the  way  of  all  dual  industrial 
railroad  unions  and  collapsed.  Just  as  it  was  about  to  ex- 
pire it  was  fused  with  the  other  unions  going  to  form  the 
I.  W.  W. 

The  Canadian  Order  of  Railwaymen  was  in  existence 
during  part  of  the  period  covered  by  the  U.  B.  R.  E.  It 
was  launched  in  1901.  It  claimed  jurisdiction  over  en- 
gineers, firemen,  conductors,  trainmen  and  yardmen  in 
Canada.  But  it  was  unable  to  make  good  its  claim  in  the 
face  of  the  craft  unions.  It  made  no  important  headway 
and  soon  died  off. 

The  next  important  one  in  the  long  list  of  dual  indus- 
trial railroad  unions  was  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the 
World.  This  organization  was  formed  in  1905  in  Chicago 
by  an  amalgamation  of  several  industrial  unions.  It  was 
intended  to  replace  the  entire  trade  union  movement.  Debs, 
Hall,  Estes  and  many  other  active  railroad  militants  gave 
it  their  hearty  support  for  a  time.  But  it  has  never  been 
able  to  make  substantial  progress  on  any  of  the  roads,  ex- 
cept in  the  Canadian  Northwest,  where  it  organized  the 
railroad  construction  workers  ten  years  ago  and  waged 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  19 

several  strikes  in  their  behalf.  At  the  present  time  it  is 
not  a  big  factor  on  the  railroads. 

The  Workers^  International  Industrial  Union  is  an  off- 
shoot of  the  I.  W.  W.  It  split  off  because  of  internal 
squabbles  in  1908.  Like  its  parent,  it  is  a  general  dual 
union.  But  it  has  never  been  able  to  make  a  strong  show- 
ing among  railroad  workers.  It  still  exists  in  skeleton 
form. 

Two  later  attempts  to  start  dual  railroad  unions  were 
those  of  the  Industrial  Railway  Union  and  the  Brother- 
hood of  Federated  Railway  Employes.  Both  these  organi- 
zations, bred  of  internal  strife  in  the  old  unions,  led  brief 
existences  in  1915-16  on  a  few  Eastern  roads.  Neither  se- 
cured any  considerable  following. 

American  Federation  of  Railroad  Workers,  One  Big  Union, 
and  United  Association  of  Railway  Employes 

The  American  Federation  of  Railroad  Workers  occupies 
a  unique  position  among  the  many  dual  industrial  unions 
that  have  sprung  up  from  time  to  time  on  the  railroads. 
While  all  the  others  have  been  radical,  it  is  markedly  con- 
servative. It  has  had  a  checkered  history.  Originally  it 
was  the  International  Association  of  Car  Workers,  an  A. 
F.  of  L.  union.  But  as  there  was  a  conflict  in  jurisdiction 
between  it  and  the  Brotherhood  Railway  Carmen  of  Amer- 
ica, the  A.  F.  of  L.  ordered  the  two  bodies  to  amalgamate. 
The  president  of  the  I.  A.  of  C.  W.  refused  point  blank  to 
agree  to  this  salutary  measure,  and  surrendered  his  char- 
ter to  the  A.  F.  of  L.  at  the  Atlanta  Convention  in  1911. 

The  organization  struggled  along  for  a  few  years  as  a 
craft  union,  and  then,  in  1915,  it  extended  its  jurisdiction 
to  take  in  all  railroad  workers,  calling  itself  thereafter  the 
American  Federation  of  Railroad  Workers.  Its  member- 
ship at  the  present  time  is  estimated  to  be  about  9,000, 
principally  car  workers.  It  has  contracts  on  two  or  three 
railroads. 


20  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

From  its  inception,  the  A.  F.  of  R.  W.  has  been  a  thorn 
in  the  side  of  the  old  unions.  It  has  done  them  much  harm 
and  compromised  the  interests  of  railroaders  generally. 
One  of  its  latest  exploits  was  a  clear  betrayal  of  union 
principles.  During  the  recent  big  struggle  to  maintain  the 
national  agreements  and  to  preserve  the  system  of  bar- 
gaining upon  a  national  scale  rather  than  with  individual 
companies,  the  officials  of  the  A.  F.  of  R.  W.  promptly 
stepped  in  and  signed  up  a  separate  agreement  with  the 
Philadelphia  &  Reading,  which  not  only  gave  up  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  shopmen's  national  agreement,  but  also  many 
of  the  conditions  established  by  the  same.  Similar  agree- 
ments have  since  been  made  on  other  roads,  to  the  sad 
compromise  of  the  interests  of  railroad  workers  as  a  whole. 
But  such  are  the  fruits  of  dual  unionism  generally,  no  mat- 
ter in  the  name  of  what  high-sounding  purpose  the  dual 
union  operates. 

The  One  Big  Union  was  set  afoot  in  Western  Canada  in 
1918.  It  is  a  general  dual  union,  organized  upon  the  indus- 
trial plan  and  claiming  all  classes  of  workers.  For  a  time 
it  made  great  progress  in  Canada,  assembling  large  num- 
bers of  workers,  among  them  many  railroad  men,  into  its 
fold.  Some  railroad  locals  were  established  in  the  United 
States  also,  notably  in  Chicago.  But  the  movement  has 
lost  its  impetus ;  it  is  waning  rapidly  and  seems  about  to 
be  eliminated. 

The  United  Association  of  Railway  Employes  is  an  after- 
math of  the  great,  so-called  "outlaw"  yardmen's  strike  of 
the  Spring  and  Summer  of  1920,  headed  by  John  Grunau. 
It  was  formed  of  the  various  groups  of  strikers  and  black- 
listed men.  Numerically  it  is  not  strong.  So  far  as  the 
writer  can  learn,  it  has  no  agreements  with  the  companies 
anywhere.  It,  too,  appears  to  be  moribund. 

The  strike  that  gave  birth  to  this  organization  is  a  typi- 
cal illustration  of  the  unfortunate  dualistic  tendency  that 
has  long  afflicted  railroad  men.  It  must  be  admitted  that 
the  men  affected  had  crying  grievances  and  that  the  union 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  21 

officials  were  asleep  at  the  switch  when  it  came  to  taking 
care  of  these  grievances.  But  the  wiser  thing  to  have 
done,  rather  than  to  call  the  unauthorized  strike,  was  to 
fight  out  the  matter  within  the  confines  of  the  old  unions. 
Had  this  been  done  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  with 
the  tremendous  spirit  of  unrest  and  resentment  prevailing, 
the  leaders  would  have  been  spurred  into  action.  Had  a 
strike  become  necessary,  it  could  have  been  widespread  and 
official,  and  it  would  have  surely  resulted  in  a  victory,  so 
favorable  were  economic  conditions.  Undoubtedly  the 
most  wholesome  effects  would  have  been  produced  upon 
the  unions.  But  no,  impatiently  the  men  first  went  out 
on  the  unauthorized  strike  and  then  into  the  new,  dual 
unions.  The  results,  easily  to  be  foreseen,  were  the  loss 
of  the  strike ;  the  blacklisting  of  thousands  of  first-class 
union  men  out  of  the  railroad  service ;  the  general  weak- 
ening of  the  old  unions ;  the  strengthening  of  the  conserva- 
tive bureaucracies  in  these  organizations,  and  the  affliction 
of  the  railroad  industry  with  one  more  dual  union  to  create 
disharmony  and  division. 

At  present  there  are  five  dual  industrial  unions  on  the 
railroads :  The  I.  W.  W.,  W.  I.  I.  U.,  A.  F.  of  R.  W., 
O.  B.  U.,  and  U.  A.  of  R  .E.  All  of  them  advocate  the  sol- 
idarity of  labor,  and  at  the  same  time  all  are  waging  war 
upon  each  other,  as  well  as  upon  the  craft  unions.  Their 
combined  membership  is  only  a  fraction  of  the  total  num- 
ber of  railroaders  organized. 

Such  are  the  results  of  the  dual  industrial  union  program 
after  more  than  thirty  years  of  effort  on  the  part  of  thous- 
ands of  active  and  earnest  militants.  Could  a  showing  be 
more  disappointing?  It  amounts  to  a  failure  complete  in 
both  theory  and  practice.  Not  only  have  the  dualists  failed 
to  rally  the  masses  to  their  program,  but  they  have  also 
failed  to  grasp  the  principles  of  solidarity.  The  spectacle 
of  five  dual  industrial  unions  in  one  industry,  all  conceived 
in  the  name  of  solidarity,  is  tragically  ridiculous.  But  that 
is  the  logical  result  of  deserting  the  old  unions  and  setting 


22  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

up  Utopian  organizations.     Other  industries  where  similar 
tactics  have  been  used  show  identical  results. 

In  view  of  these  facts  should  it  not  be  evident  that  the 
long-hoped-for  industrial  union  of  railroad  workers  will 
not  come  through  dual  unionism?  And  is  it  not  clear  that 
this  disruptive  program  should  be  finally  and  definitely 
abandoned?  In  the  next  chapter  we  will  see  how  the  in- 
dustrial union  is  really  being  brought  about  through  the 
evolution  of  the  old  trade  unions. 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  23 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE  EVOLUTION  OF  RAILROAD  TRADE  UNIONISM 

Now,  having-  seen  the  utter  failure  of  the  dual  union  pro- 
gram of  the  concious  minorities,  let  us  examine  the  drift 
of  the  conservative  masses  towards  industrial  unionism, 
for  as  yet  it  can  hardly  be  called  a  concious  movement. 

Like  the  radical  minority  elements,  the  great  body  of 
railroad  men  have  responded  to  the  oppression  of  the  rail- 
road companies.  But  their  manner  of  doing  so  has  been 
vastly  different.  It  is  not  their  method  to  throw  away 
their  old  unions,  built  through  so  much  stress  and  struggle, 
and  to  begin  all  over  again  on  a  supposedly  perfect  basis 
as  the  dual  unionists  have  so  long  urged  them  to  do.  No, 
they  are  far  too  sluggish  for  that.  Their  way  is  the  evolu- 
tionary way,  the  way  followed  almost  universally  by  work- 
ers in  improving  their  organizations,  and  the  one  taken 
by  the  railroad  companies  in  building  up  their  own  power. 
They  have  no  plan  or  theory,  but  move  pretty  much  as 
circumstances  imperatively  dictate.  As  they  sense  the  need 
for  more  united  action  they  build  up  and  extend  their  old 
unions  and  then  strike  up  closer  and  closer  affiliations  with 
sister  organizations.  The  general  result  is  a  constant  and 
steady,  even  if  unrecognized,  approach  to  the  industrial 
form. 

This  unceasing  evolution  has  gone  on  for  many  years, 
in  fact  from  the  very  inception  of  railroad  unionism.  The 
stages  making  it  up  are  many  and  complicated.  Beginning 
with  a  whole  series  of  primitive  and  isolated  local  unions, 
the  organization  has  constantly  marched  on  expanding  and 
developing  until  it  has  reached  its  present  condition  of  six- 
teen more  or  less  loosely  federated  national  craft  unions 
covering  the  whole  railroad  industry.  These  unions  are: 
Engineers  (B.  of  L.  E.),  Firemen  (B.  of  L.  F.  &  E.),  Conduc- 
tors (O.  R.  C.)»  Trainmen  (B.  of  R.  T.),  Switchmen  (S.  U. 


24  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

of  N.  A.),  Telegraphers  (O.  R.  T.),  Clerks  (B.  of  R.  &  S.  C. 
F.  H.  E.  &  S.  E.),  Signalmen  (B.  of  R.  S.  of  A.),  Stationary 
Firemen  (I.  B.  of  S.  F.  &  O.),  Maintenance  of  Way  (U.  B. 
M.  W.  &  R.  S.  L.),  Machinists  (I.  A.  of  M.),  Blacksmiths 
(I.  B.  of  B.  &  H.),  Boilermakers  (L  B.  I.  S.  B.  &  H.  of  A.), 
Carmen  (B.  R.  C  of  A.),  Electrical  Workers  (L  B.  E.  W.), 
and  Sheet  Metal  Workers  (A.  S.  M.  W.  L  A.).  In  order 
that  we  may  understand  the  coming  together  process  that 
has  developed  these  craft  unions  and  the  alliances  between 
them,  and  so*  we  will  have  a  guide  for  future  progress,  it 
will  pay  us  to  review  some  of  the  details  of  the  evolution. 
We  will  consider  the  sixteen  principal  unions  in  their  three 
natural  divisions  of  transportation,  miscellaneous,  and  shop, 
beginning  with  the  transportation  section. 

Development  of  the  Transportation  Unions 

Originally  the  five  unions  actually  engaged  in  the  direct 
moving  of  passengers  and  freight,  the  Engineers,  Firemen, 
Conductors,  Trainmen,  and  Switchmen,  like  all  the  other 
railroad  trade  unions,  followed  a  policy  of  individual  action. 
That  is,  each  craft  group  fought  its  own  battles,  regard- 
less of  the  interests  of  the  others.  When  one  struck  the 
rest  stayed  at  work,  with  the  natural  result  that  much  bit- 
terness prevailed  among  them.  This  was  intensified  by 
raging  jurisdictional  wars  and  mutual  scabbery.  The  gen- 
eral result  was  to  seriously  weaken  them  all  and  to  make 
them  pay  dearly,  through  many  lost  strikes,  for  their  lack 
of  solidarity. 

The  evolution  of  the  transportation  unions,  like  all 
others,  is  to  be  measured  chiefly  by  the  extension  and 
solidification  of  their  fighting  front  against  the  employers. 
The  first  fighting  unit  used  by  the  transportation  unions 
consisted  simply  of  the  few  workers  in  a  single  trade  em- 
ployed in  only  one  town  of  a  railroad  system.  For  exam- 
ple, the  conductors  working  out  of  a  certain  division  town 
would  negotiate  an  agreement  with  the  company.  Thus 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  25 

there  might  be  a  dozen  agreements  in  effect  for  this  one 
craft  on  the  whole  railroad.  Naturally  such  a  primitive 
method  developed  but  little  strength  for  the  workers. 
Fighting  as  they  did  in  such  small  detachments  it  was  easy 
for  the  expanding  companies  to  defeat  them.  So  eventually 
they  came  to  learn  that  they  would  have  to  operate  on  a 
broader  scale.  Then  came  the  enlargement  of  the  fighting 
unit  until  it  included  all  the  workers  in  a  given  craft  upon  a 
whole  railroad  system.  Thereafter,  the  conductors,  in- 
stead of  acting  together  only  in  each  division  point,  moved 
in  concert  all  over  the  many  divisions  comprising  the  road. 
This  type  of  one  craft  on  one  system  became  general  quite 
early  in  the  history  of  railroad  unionism. 

But  it  was  only  a  step.  The  companies,  waxing  rapidly 
rich  and  powerful,  found  that  with  all  the  departments  of 
a  system  in  operation,  save  one,  it  was  not  difficult  to  de- 
feat a  striking  craft.  Hence  the  need  for  a  still  more  ex- 
tended battlefront  pressed  heavily  upon  the  workers,  and 
in  1889  an  effort  was  made  to  finally  solve  the  problem  by 
federating  the  several  transportation  unions  together  on  a 
national  scale  in  the  United  Order  of  Railway  Employes. 
But  this  federation  was  premature,  and  it  fell  to  pieces  in 
1891  because  of  internal  strife.  Out  of  its  ruins,  however, 
grew  one  of  the  most  important  types  of  organization  yet 
produced  in  this  country.  This  is  what  is  called  the  sys- 
tem federation. 

System  federations  are  alliances  of  several  crafts  on 
individual  railroad  systems.  They  operated  to  extend  the 
fighting  unit  from  one  craft  on  one  system  to  several  crafts 
on  one  system.  In  the  transportation  department  they 
brought  about  active  offensive  and  defensive  co-operation 
between  the  four  brotherhoods*  on  all  matters  relating 
to  single  railroads.  This  type  of  organization  was  pro- 
posed by  the  Engineers  in  1890.  It  was  adapted  in  1892, 


*The  bitter  jurisdictional  warfare  between  the  Trainmen  and  Switchmen 
resulted,  among  its  many  other  evil  effects,  in  keeping  the  latter  organiza- 
tion out  of  the  many  federations  mentioned  in  this  section,  and  in  having  them 
practically  isolated  until  quite  recently. 


26  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

under  what  is  known  as  the  Cedar  Rapids  Plan,  but  it  did 
not  get  wide  application  until  within  the  last  fifteen  years. 

The  system  federations  have  done  much  to  break  down 
the  intense  sectionalism  of  the  brotherhoods.  Tending  to 
make  the  crafts  better  acquainted  with  each  other,  they 
have  checked  jurisdictional  quarrels  and  produced  a  better 
co-operation  all  around.  Naturally  their  component  unions 
greatly  increased  in  power  from  the  extended  scope  of 
solidarity.  This  was  clearly  manifested  in  the  big  strikes 
on  the  southern  Pacific  (1913),  the  Delaware  &  Hudson 
(1914),  and  the  Chicago  Belt  (1915).  All  three  were  clean- 
cut  victories.  In  each  case  the  four  organizations  struck 
almost  to  a  man  and  compelled  the  companies  to  grant 
their  demands. 

While  the  system  federations  were  spreading  through- 
out the  country,  the  transportation  unions,  responding  to 
the  ever-present  urge  to  get  together,  still  further  ex- 
tended their  scope  of  action  by  means  of  territorial  or  di- 
visional organizations  and  movements.  In  order  to  make 
it  clear  what  these  important  developments  signify  it  is 
necessary  to  explain  that  the  Government,  the  railroad 
companies  and  the  workers  consider  the  railroads  of  the 
United  States  as  falling  into  three  "territories"  or  divisions : 
Western,  Eastern  and  Southern.  The  Western  Territory, 
or  Division  No.  1*  comprises  all  the  railroads  West  of  and 
including  the  Illinois  Central;  the  Eastern  Territory,  or 
Division  No.  2,  all  those  East  of  Chicago  and  North  of  the 
Chesapeake  &  Ohio;  the  Southern  Territory,  or  Division 
No.  3,  all  those  East  of  the  Illinois  Central  and  South  of 
the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio,  including  the  latter  system. 

The  divisional  type  of  organization  enlarged  the  fighting 
unit  of  the  crafts  from  the  one  system  basis  to  that  of 
the  scores  of  roads  that  are  to  be  found  in  each  division, 


*Following  for  simplicity's  sake  the  terminology  in  use  among  the  A.  F.  of  L. 
railroad  unions,  a  Territory  will  be  hereafter  in  this  booklet  referred  to  as 
Division  No.  1,  2  or  3,  accordingly  as  it  is  Western  Eastern  or  Southern. 
The  railroads  of  Canada  comprise  Division  No.  4  in  union  practice,  while  the 
Independent  railroad  locomotive  and  car  equipment  plants  in  both  countries 
constitute  Division  No.  5. 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  27 

a  significant  advance.  Henceforth,  instead  of  the  roads 
being  handled  separately  on  the  questions  of  hours,  wages, 
etc.,  they  were  dealt  with  in  large  numbers.  But  the  divi- 
sional movements  varied  in  character.  Some  consisted  of 
only  one  craft,  as,  for  example,  those  of  the  Engineers 
(Div.  No.  1,  1908)  and  the  Firemen  (Div.  No.  1,  1907) ;  but 
eventually  they  came  to  consist  of  two  crafts,  thus  doub- 
ling their  scope.  The  Conductors  and  Trainmen  inaugur- 
ated the  latter  type,  when  an  alliance  was  struck  up  be- 
tween them  in  1901.  The  Engineers  and  Firemen  followed 
suit  by  a  similar  alliance  in  1913.  Several  of  these  two- 
craft  divisional  movements  were  made.  A  typical  instance 
was  that  of  the  Engineers  and  Firemen  in  1915  on  all  the 
roads  in  the  West,  comprising  Division  No.  1.  Approxi- 
mately 65,000  men  were  involved. 

The  system  and  divisional  federations  were  vast  im- 
provements over  the  primitive  types  of  organization  and 
they  did  much  to  develop  the  latent  power  of  the  brother- 
hood men,  but  evolution  could  not  stop  with  them.  In 
the  face  of  the  growing  intelligence  of  the  workers  and 
the  intensified  power  of  the  companies  they  had  to  give 
away  to  a  still  broader  type.  This  was  a  concerted  move- 
ment of  the  four  organizations  on  all  the  railroads  in  the 
whole  country.  This  big  advance  manifested  itself  in  the 
great  struggle  for  the  eight-hour  day  in  1916-17.  Over 
350.000  engineers,  firemen,  conductors  and  trainmen  were 
involved.  It  constituted  the  largest,  well  organized  wage 
movement  known  in  America  up  to  that  time,  and  resulted 
in  a  victory  for  the  men.  To  stem  the  threatened  gigantic 
strike,  Congress  hastily  passed  the  Adamson  eight-hour 
law,  and  the  mossback  Supreme  Court,  under  the  lash, 
hopped  around,  and  for  about  the  first  time  in  its  history 
gave  Labor  a  square  deal  by  calling  the  law  constitutional, 
just  on  the  eve  of  the  strike. 

Thus,  so  far  as  we  have  gone,  we  find  that  the  brother- 
hood men,  responding  to  the  pressure  against  them,  have 
gradually  extended  their  fighting  unit  from  the  narrow 


28  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

confines  of  one  trade  in  one  railroad  town  to  broad-sweep- 
ing movements  of  the  four  trades  on  all  the  railroads  in  the 
United  States.  To  one  familiar  with  the  gradual  manner 
in  which  workers  improve  the  structure  of  their  labor 
unions  this  tremendous  advance  will  stand  out  as  a  long 
stride  towards  the  inevitable  industrial  union  in  the  rail- 
road industry. 

Development  of  the  Miscellaneous  Unions 

Before  going  further  with  the  four  brotherhoods  let  us 
turn  our  attention  to  the  unions  in  the  miscellaneous  sec- 
tion; viz,  Telegraphers,  Clerks,  Signalmen,  Stationary 
Firemen,  and  Maintenance  of  Way  Workers.  Their  evo- 
lution is  comparitively  simple.  Before  the  war  the  latter 
four  led  a  very  precarious  existence,  as  they  possessed  lit- 
tle organization  upon  the  various  roads.  When  the  war 
came,  however,  they  underwent  a  mushroom  growth  and 
swarmed  nearly  all  of  the  eligible  workers  into  their  ranks. 
At  one  blow  almost  they  advanced  from  the  primitive 
status  of  negotiating  separate  agreements  for  each  system 
to  the  establishments  of  national  agreements  for  their  re- 
spective crafts  on  all  interstate  systems. 

Because  of  their  long  quarrel  with  the  Trainmen,  the 
Switchmen  remained  in  the  detached  condition  character- 
istic of  the  unions  in  the  miscellaneous  section.  In  fact, 
although  properly  a  transportation  union,  they  usually 
found  themselves  left  out  of  the  joint  movements  in  that 
department. 

Development  of  the  Shop  Unions 

The  principal  shop  unions  are  the  Machinists,  Black- 
smiths, Boilermakers,  Carmen,  Electrical  Workers,  and 
Sheet  Metal  Workers.  Their  evolution  was  much  more 
lengthy  and  involved  than  that  of  the  miscellaneous  unions. 
It  is  comparable  to  that  of  the  transportation  unions  and 
merits  our  attention.  It  illustrates  clearly  the  constant 
get-together  tendencies  of  the  railroad  unions. 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  29 

Like  the  members  of  the  brotherhoods,  the  shop  workers 
began  early  to  perceive  that  their  trades  could  not  success- 
fully fight  alone.  It  was  not  enough  that  their  respective 
crafts  be  highly  organized.  It  was  necessary  also  that 
they  should  co-operate  together  as  against  the  common 
enemy,  the  companies.  Dozens  of  lost  strikes  emphasized 
this  lesson.  So  the  shopmen  entered  upon  a  long  course 
of  drawing  up  their  unions  into  federations,  much  as  the 
brotherhood  men  have  done,  but  without  quite  so  many 
complications  and  refinements. 

The  first  definite  form  of  active  co-operation  among  the 
shop  trades  was  the  familiar  system  federation.  This  type 
of  organization  did  for  the  shop  men  what  it  did  for  the 
transportation  men,  expanded  their  scope  of  action  from 
one  craft  on  one  system  to  several  crafts  on  one  system. 
They  began  to  spread  over  the  railroads  of  the  country 
about  1905,  and  in  a  few  years  were  established  on  many 
systems.  But  the  shop  men,  less  strategically  situated  in 
th  t  industry  than  are  the  brotherhood  men,  have  always 
had  to  fight  harder  to  win  concessions  from  the  companies. 
Consequently  their  system  federation  movement  met  heavy 
resistance  from  the  companies  in  a  number  of  strikes,  chief 
among  which  was  the  great  Harriman  Lines-Illinois  Cen- 
tial  walkout. 

This  big  strike  started  in  September,  1911,  and  lasted 
forty-five  months,  until  June,  1915.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
bitterly  contested  strikes  in  American  labor  history,  and 
one  of  the  most  important.  About  38,000  men  were  in- 
volved, scattered  over  the  twelve  railroads  comprising  the 
'enormous  Harriman  Lines-Illinois  Central  system.  The 
issue  at  stake  was  the  question  of  federation ;  the  nine 
unions  insisting  upon  dealing  collectively  with  the  man- 
agement, and  the  management  insisting  that  they  act  one 
at  a  time.  Both  sides  desperately  fought  out  their  issue. 
President  Markham  of  the  Illinois  Central  explained  the 
company's  opposition  as  follows : 


30  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

"It  would  only  be  a  question  of  years  until  the 
operating  men  became  members  of  the  system  fed- 
eration. That  would  place  the  company  at  the  mercy 
of  a  compact  body  of  labor  to  enforce  its  demands 
by  tying  up  the  system  at  all  points.  It  would  mean 
taking  the  control  out  of  the  hands  of  the  board  of 
directors  and  placing  it  in  the  hands  of  organized 
labor.  That's  why  I  am  opposed  to  the  system  fed- 
eration plan  of  organization." 

Nominally  the  strike  was  lost,  the  workers  being  com- 
pelled to  go  back  to  work  without  either  their  unions  or  a 
settlement.  But  practically  a  large  measure  of  victory 
was  achieved,  because  the  company  paid  so  dearly  for  its 
victory  that  other  companies  hesitated  to  go  into  similar 
struggles;  with  the  result  that  the  shopmen's  federations 
thereafter  were  quite  generally  recognized  wherever  the 
crafts  had  any  strength  of  organization.  The  big  strike 
definitely  established  the  system  federation  movement. 
It  also  resulted  in  making  the  Railway  Employes'  Depart- 
ment the  best  department  in  the  A.  F.  of  L.,  by  bringing 
about  the  amalgamation  of  the  original  half-dead  depart- 
ment with  the  Federation  of  Federations,  an  organization 
called  into  being  to  unite  all  the  system  federations. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  transportation  unions,  the  divisional 
type  of  organization  developed  among  the  shop  unions  side 
by  side  with  the  system  federations.  The  first  divisional 
movement  of  shop  men  took  place  in  Division  No.  3  in 
1916.  Twelve  Southern  railroads  were  involved.  In  Di- 
vision No.  1  an  effort  was  made  along  similar  lines  shortly 
after;  but  the  unions,  not  yet  recovered  from  the  big 
strike  on  the  Harriman  Lines-Illinois  Central  system,  were 
unable  to  win  their  point.  The  companies  blocked  them, 
and  compelled  them  to  continue  along  with  the  old  method 
of  one  craft  or  one  system  federation  at  a  time,  as  the  case 
might  be. 

At  this  stage  of  the  shop  unions'  development  the  war 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  31 

broke  out  and  the  whole  situation  was  revolutionized.  The 
railroads  were  taken  over  by  the  Government;  Director- 
General  McAdoo  issued  his  famous  order  No.  8  guarantee- 
ing railroaders  the  right  to  organize ;  the  workers  streamed 
into  the  unions ;  local,  system  and  divisional  federations 
were  hastily  organized,  and  the  shop  unions  fairly  leaped 
even  beyond  the  point  of  development  reached  by  the 
brotherhoods  in  their  great  eight-hour  movement  of  a 
couple  of  years  before.  They  not  only  carried  out  na- 
tional campaigns  for  hours,  wages,  etc.,  but  in  addition  suc- 
ceeded in  negotiating  a  national  agreement  covering  the 
whole  six  shop  crafts  upon  all  the  railroads  of  the  United 
States — thereby  taking  another  long  stride  towards  firmly 
uniting  the  great  body  of  railroad  men  in  one  organiza- 
tion. 

Transportation,  Miscellaneous  and  Shop  Unions  Unite 

To  recapitulate :  So  far  as  we  have  gone  we  find  the 
sixteen  railroad  unions  operating  as  follows :  First,  the 
four  transportation  unions,  consisting  of  the  Engineers, 
Firemen,  Conductors  and  Trainmen,  acting  in  close  co- 
operation upon  a  national  scale.  Second,  the  six  miscella- 
neous unions,  consisting  of  the  Telegraphers,  Clerks, 
Switchmen,  Signalmen,  Stationary  Firemen  and  Mainten- 
ance of  Way  Workers,  each  proceeding  separately,  but  all 
working  upon  a  national  basis.  Third,  the  six  shop  unions, 
consisting  of  the  Machinists,  Blacksmiths,  Boilermakers, 
Carmen,  Electrical  Workers  and  Sheet  Metal  Workers,  all 
working  under  a  single  national  agreement. 

This  situation  was  a  far  cry  from  the  primitive  type 
of  unionism  described  above.  But  evolution  could  not  stop 
there.  The  same  forces  that  had  brought  the  organiza- 
tions to  this  stage  of  development  must  continue  to  oper- 
ate until  there  is  complete  solidarity  among  all  railroad 
workers.  It  was  inevitable  that  the  two  compact  groups 
of  transportation  and  shop  unions  and  the  scattering  group 


32  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

of  miscellaneous  unions  should  strike  up  a  co-operation 
among  themselves  upon  a  national  scale.* 

The  first  step  in  this  direction  had  to  do  with  political 
measures.  The  unions  clearly  recognized  their  industrial 
relationship  and  mutual  interdependence  in  the  Plumb 
Plan.  To  advocate  this  proposal  they  formed  themselves 
into  the  Plumb  Plan  League,  issued  the  joint  journal, 
"Labor,"  and  launched  a  general  publicity  campaign.  But 
it  was  not  long  until  this  new  co-operation  also  manifested 
itself  on  the  industrial  field,  and  in  1920  all  the  organiza- 
tions united  in  a  national  movement  for  wage  increases. 

Thus,  after  many  long  years  of  evolution,  the  enormous 
army  of  railroad  workers,  beginning  at  the  simple  system 
of  one  trade  acting  at  a  time  in  each  division  town,  finally 
arrived  at  the  stage  where  all  the  trades  acted  together 
simultaneously  on  every  railroad  in  the  United  States. 
Although  the  lineup  was  yet  far  from  perfect,  the  1,850,- 
000  railroad  men,  for  the  first  time  in  their  history,  were 
moving  in  a  body  against  the  common  enemy.  The  ap- 
proach made  to  industrial  unionism  by  this  long  evolution 
is  unmistakable. 

Much  of  this  national,  all-trades  co-operation  is  unques- 
tionably flimsy  as  yet,  as  we  shall  see  farther  on.  It  may 
be  that  the  present  alliances  will  be  partly  dissolved 
through  the  shortsightedness  of  the  men — though  the  six- 
teen trades  strike  on  the  Atlanta,  Birmingham  &  Atlantic 
augurs  well.  But  such  setbacks  can  only  be  temporarily. 
The  evolution  of  the  unions  will  go  on,  in  spite  of  occa- 
sional reverses,  until  all  the  railroad  workers  of  America 
stand  stolidly  united  in  one  organization,  fully  conscious 
of  their  common  interests  against  the  common  foe,  and  de- 
termined to  fight  shoulder  to  shoulder  to  make  them  pre- 
vail. 


*A  forerunner  of  the  all-craft  movement  occurred  on  the  Chicago  &  Eastern 
Illinois  in  1915,  when  all  the  trades  on  that  road  joined  forces  in  a  system 
federation,  the  first  of  its  kind.  The  system  federation  was  unique  in  that 
it  comprised  all  the  railroad  crafts,  and  not  merely  several  of  the  more 
closely  related  grroups.  as  had  previously  been  the  case. 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  33 

For  industrial  unionists  the  facts  cited  in  these  two  chap- 
ters should  bear  an  important  lesson.  They  make  it  clear 
as  day  that  the  dual  unions  have  failed  utterly,  and  that 
the  trade  unions  provide  the  means  for  the  realization  of 
industrial  unionism  on  the  railroads.  Not  only  have  the 
latter  organized  the  vast  bulk  of  all  railroad  workers ;  but 
they  are  also  constantly  closing  up  their  ranks  in  a  man- 
ner that  can  only  end  in  transforming  them  all  into  one 
organization.  The  part  of  wisdom  then  is  to  give  up  dual 
unionism  and  to  devote  all  our  efforts  to  the  development 
of  the  trade  unions. 

The  worst  of  the  dual  industrial  unions  is  not  so  much 
that  they  have  failed  of  themselves,  but  rather  that  they 
have  greatly  retarded  the  progress  of  the  trade  unions. 
In  the  first  place,  they  have  discredited  the  very  name  of 
industrial  unionism  by  associating  it  with  secession,  dis- 
ruption and  failure.  And,  then  by  pulling  thousands  of  live 
wires  out  of  the  trade  unions  they  have  robbed  these  or- 
ganizations of  tremendous  support.  It  is  safe  to  assume 
that  if  the  large  body  of  industrial  unionists,  for  all  these 
years,  had  stayed  in  the  old  unions,  set  up  their  ideal  of 
industrial  unionism  there,  and  then  worked  for  every  prac- 
tical measure  making  in  that  direction,  we  would  have  had 
an  industrial  union  of  railroad  workers  by  now.  But  bet- 
ter late  than  never.  This  sensible  policy  should  be  fol- 
lowed henceforth,  and  a  lasting  goodbye  said  to  dual 
unionism. 


34  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

CHAPTER  IV 
THE  NEXT  STEP— AMALGAMATION 

Sooner  or  later,  the  unions  in  all  industries  and  in  every 
country  find  themselves  at  the  point  where  they  are  based 
upon  industrial  rather  than  craft  lines.  In  arriving  at  this 
stage  of  development  they  ordinarily  pass  through  a  more 
or  less  lengthy  evolutionary  process,  marked  by  three  dis- 
tinct phases,  which  I  shall  call:  (1)  isolation,  (2)  federa- 
tion, (3)  amalgamation. 

In  the  first,  or  isolation  phase,  the  several  craft  groups 
in  a  given  industry  act  independently  of  each  other,  rec- 
ognizing few  or  no  interests  in  common.  Eventually,  how- 
ever, grace  to  their  own  unfolding  intelligence,  to  the  grow- 
ing power  of  the  employers,  to  the  elimination  of  skill  by 
machinery,  and  to  various  other  factors,  they  awaken  to 
the  ineffectiveness  of  this  individualistic  method,  and  begin 
to  set  up  offensive  and  defensive  alliances  with  each  other. 
This  brings  them  into  the  second,  or  federation  phase. 
And,  finally,  when  by  the  working  of  the  same  factors,  they 
perceive  their  loose  federated  form,  although  a  big  im- 
provement over  the  previous  system,  does  not  develop  their 
maximum  power,  they  gradually  fuse  themselves  together 
into  a  unified  body  along  the  lines  of  their  industry.  Thus 
they  reach  the  third,  or  amalgamation  phase. 

This  is  the  normal  course  of  labor  union  development, 
the  natural  way  of  building  industrial  unions.  Dozens  of 
industrial  unions  in  Europe  have  taken  it,  and  our  Amer- 
ican trade  unions  are  following  suite.  In  common  with 
other  groups  of  unions  in  the  food,  clothing,  metal,  trans- 
port, building,  printing,  and  other  industries,  the  railroad 
unions  are  now  in  the  secondary,  or  federation  phase  of 
development.  That  is  the  significance  of  their  multitudi- 
nous local  system,  divisional  and  national  alliances,  which 
constitute  the  most  elaborate  maze  of  federation  ever  con- 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  35 

structed  by  unions  anywhere.  Nor  will  they  stop  with 
federation.  They  must  go  on  to  the  next  phase,  amalga- 
mation. In  so  doing  they  will  be  merely  following  the  dic- 
tates of  reason  and  acting  in  harmony  with  labor  union 
evolution  the  world  over.  It  will  be  the  logical  and  in- 
evitable climax  to  all  the  get-together  movements,  radical 
and  conservative,  among  railroad  men  for  a  generation. 
Amalgamation  of  the  sixten  railroad  craft  unions  into  one 
industrial  union — that's  the  railroaders'  next  step. 

The  Failings  of  Federation 

The  situation  is  over-ripe  for  a  general  amalgamation 
of  all  railroad  unions.  Solidly  united  and  inspired  by  a 
boundless  voracity  for  profits  and  power,  the  railroad  com- 
panies are  resolved  to  smash  the  workers  down  to  slav- 
ery. In  this  unholy  task  they  have  the  active  assistance  of 
every  branch  of  the  powerful  capitalist  class.  Common 
sense  demands,  therefore,  that  the  enormous  army  of  rail- 
road men  be  brought  to  the  highest  possible  state  of  effi- 
ciency in  unflinching  opposition  to  our  would-be  masters. 
Under  the  prevailing  federated  form  this  cannot  be  done. 
Amalgamation  is  the  only  solution. 

Federation  is  all  right  so  far  as  it  goes.  It  marks  an 
important  stage  in  the  workers'  development  from  craft 
to  class  unionism.  It  is  at  once  an  admission  of  the  in- 
effectiveness of  craft  action  and  a  striving  for  industrial 
solidarity.  Federation  always  sounds  the  death  knell  of 
pure  and  simple  trade  unionism.  But  the  trouble  with  it 
is  that  it  does  not  go  far  enough.  It  is  essentially  only  a 
halfway  measure.  Afflicted  with  lingering  craft  weak- 
nesses, it  develops  only  a  fraction  of  the  workers'  potential 
power.  Despite  federation  the  employers  are  still  able  to 
play  one  group  of  workers  against  the  others  and  thus  beat 
them  all. 

Whenever  a  federation  goes  into  action,  whether  in  con- 
cerence  or  in  strike,  its  weaknesses  are  instantly  apparent. 


36  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

The  autonomous  unions  lack  cohesion  and  unity  of  pur- 
pose. The  craft  point  of  view  prevails.  Each  union,  ani- 
mated by  its  particular  craft  prejudices,  and  selfishness, 
looks  first  to  the  interest  of  its  own  members.  Little  or  no 
power  is  conceded  to  the  federation,  which  is  looked  upon 
pretty  much  as  a  mere  matter  of  convenience.  The  idea  of 
the  general  good  remains  in  the  background.  Jealousies, 
squabblings  and  even  betrayals  are  the  order  of  the  day. 
Consequently  united  action  is  out  of  the  question.  Federa- 
tions can  neither  agree  definitely  upon  a  program,  nor  fight 
vigorously  to  put  one  through. 

The  Steel  Workers'  Federation 

Railroad  men  have  had  a  wide  experience  with  federa- 
tion. But  before  going  into  that  it  may  not  be  amiss  to 
mention  something  of  what  happened  in  the  great  organ- 
izing campaign  and  strike  in  the  steel  industry — for  federa- 
tion always  works  out  the  same. 

The  National  Committee  for  Organizing  Iron  and  Steel 
Workers  was  a  gigantic  experiment  in  federation.  It  con- 
sisted of  twenty-four  international  unions  ,numbering  over 
2,000,000  members.  While  its  work,  like  that  of  all  federa- 
tions, was  a  big  improvement  over  the  primitive  condition 
of  each  union  going  it  alone,  still  it  was  afflicted  with  the 
customary  faults  of  such  organizations.  These  contrib- 
uted much  to  its  final  defeat. 

In  the  great  steel  fight  the  need  for  the  solidarity  of 
labor  was  imperative.  The  Steel  Trust  was  solidly  united ; 
its  forces  worked  together  like  a  perfect  machine.  But  not 
so  on  the  side  of  Labor — where  there  should  have  been 
unity,  harmony  and  power,  there  was  division,  disagree- 
ment and  impotency.  Federation  failed  to  make  good. 
The  twenty-four  unions  never  really  combined  their  forces, 
or  organized  their  many  wills  into  one  firm  determination 
to  win.  From  first  to  last  they  lacked  cohesion  and  sin- 
gleness of  purpose.  And  under  their  federated  form  of 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  37 

organization  not  even  the  great  stake  of  the  organization 
of  the  steel  industry  could  spur  them  to  unified  action. 

The  National  Committee,  like  all  federations,  lacked 
authority  to  command  the  resources  and  co-operation  of 
its  component  unions.  Instead  of  the  campaign  being  con- 
ducted from  one  central  point,  as  the  situation  impera- 
tively demanded,  it  was  practically  handled  from  the 
twenty-four  union  headquarters  scattered  all  over  the 
country.  It  proved  impossible  to  get  all  the  international 
presidents  (who  held  the  reins  of  power)  assembled  in  one 
meeting,  even  in  the  most  critical  periods  of  the  movement. 
Notwithstanding  the  most  desperate  appeals,  the  most  got- 
ten together  at  any  one  time  was  seven.  The  usual  thing 
for  the  unions  to  do  was  to  send  some  minor  official  with- 
out power  to  act,  which  of  itself  condemned  the  National 
Committee  to  powerlessness.  Then,  when  the  committee 
attempted  to  function  through  these  straw  delegates  and 
took  important  action,  word  would  soon  come  from  some 
headquarters,  far  from  the  scene  of  action,  that  they  would 
not  go  along  with  the  program  outlined.  Then  other 
unions,  hearing  of  this,  would  likewise  balk,  with  the  con- 
sequent collapse  of  the  plan.  This  was  the  fate  of  many 
vital  measures.  Constantly  the  movement  was  paralyzed. 
It  had  to  drift  along  as  best  it  could  with  only  a  fraction 
of  the  strength  of  the  twenty-four  unions  behind  it. 

Jurisdictional  fights  and  craft  jealousies  embittered  the 
unions  and  still  furthed  weakened  their  co-operation.  There 
was  also  endless  confusion  in  starting  and  finishing  the 
strike,  many  local  unions  refusing  to  respond  to  the  Na- 
tional Committee.  In  one  case  the  officials  of  the  Inter- 
national Union  of  Steam  Operating  Engineers  deliberately 
betrayed  the  whole  movement  because  of  a  fight  with  the 
Electrical  Workers  over  jurisdiction.  They  ordered  their 
men  to  disobey  the  strike  call  and  to  remain  at  work.  Sim- 
ilarly, the  officials  of  the  Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron, 
Steel  and  Tin  Workers  sabotaged  the  organizing  campaign 
and  strike  from  beginning  to  end,  because  of  jealousy 


38  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

towards  the  other  unions,  if  nothing  worse.  The  regular 
attitude  was  for  each  organization  to  hold  back,  waiting 
for  the  others  to  take  the  lead,  and  fearing  that  if  it  stirred 
the  others  would  take  advantage  of  its  good  will.  This 
meant  paralysis  all  around ;  the  unions  weakest  in  resources 
and  spirit  seemed  to  set  the  pace  for  the  rest.  Nor  could 
anything  change  the  situation. 

In  the  matter  of  finances  the  holding  back  tendency  was 
particularly  noticeable.  Although  actually  with  millions 
in  their  treasuries,  the  twenty-four  unions  gave  the  Na- 
tional Committee  only  the  beggarly  sum  of  $100,000  to 
carry  on  the  whole  organizing  campaign  and  the  strike. 
If  hard-pressed  almost  any  one  of  them  could  have  done 
as  well  alone.  Three  outside  unions,  the  Amalgamated 
Clothing  Workers,  the  Ladies'  Garment  Workers,  and  the 
Fur  Workers,  contributed  more  than  the  twenty-four 
unions  combined;  viz.,  $190,000.  Had  the  twenty-four 
unions  been  really  united,  instead  of  merely  federated,  they 
could,  and  certainly  would  have  put  in  fifty  times  as  much 
money  as  they  did ;  not  to  speak  of  the  strength  they 
would  have  added  in  other  ways.  An  industrial  union  of 
steel  workers,  under  similar  circumstances,  would  have 
surely  defeated  the  Steel  Trust. 

Some  Foreign  Experiences 

Federation  always  demonstrates  such  defects.  The 
British  Labor  Movement  has  just  had  a  disastrous  experi- 
ence with  it.  There  the  miners,  railroaders,  and  transport 
workers  were  federated  together  in  the  world-famous 
Triple  Alliance.  The  understanding  was  that  if  one  of 
the  three  groups  got  in  serious  trouble  the  other  two  would 
rally  to  its  support.  The  workers  thought  they  had  a 
wonderful  weapon  in  this  gigantic  labor  combination,,  num- 
bering about  two  million  people  employed  in  the  most 
vitally  necessary  industries. 

But    events    sadly    undeceived    them.     The   Triple    Alii- 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  39 

ance,  when  put  to  the  test,  collapsed  like  federations  al- 
ways do  under  pressure.  The  trouble  started  in  the  Spring 
of  1921,  when  the  miners  were  bitterly  attacked  by  the 
mine  owners.  They  called  upon  the  two  affiliated  groups 
of  railroads  and  transport  workers  to  help  them.  This  the 
latter  made  a  show  of  doing,  going  so  far  even  as  to  call 
a  general  strike  in  support  of  the  miners.  But  this  never 
materialized.  On  the  contrary,  the  three  great  unions, 
simply  because  they  were  separate  organizations  and 
manned  by  timid  officials,  quarrelled  among  themselves 
over  the  usual  technicalities,  personalities,  etc.  and  finally 
declared  off  the  threatened  strike.  The  miners  were  left 
to  make  the  fight  alone,  and  the  general  result  was  far 
worse  than  if  there  had  been  no  Triple  Alliance  at  all. 
The  affair  was  a  terrific  defeat  for  the  whole  working 
class. 

Above  all  the  labor  movement  is  a  fighting  organization, 
and  a  successful  fighting  machine  can  never  be  constructed 
on  the  basis  of  federation.  This  was  clearly  demonstrated 
during  the  World  War  in  the  military  forces  of  the  Allies. 
In  the  beginning  the  Allied  armies  were  practically  fed- 
erated. But  naturally  no  real  concerted  action  was  possi- 
ble among  them,  just  as  it  is  impossible  among  federated 
trade  unions  and  for  the  same  reasons.  No  general  strat- 
egy could  be  developed.  When  France  was  making  a  drive 
against  the  Central  Powers,  England,  Italy,  Russia  and 
the  rest  would  invariably  be  doing  the  reverse  of  what  they 
should  be,  and  vice  versa.  Nor  could  the  most  pressing 
danger  of  defeat  put  an  end  to  this  condition  and  make 
the  federated  armies  function  effectively.  When  they  had 
nearly  lost  the  war  then  the  Allies  applied  the  remedy, 
amalgamation.  The  several  armies  were  placed  under  one 
head.  This  doubled  their  power  and  sounded  the  death 
knell  of  the  opposing  military  forces.  Whether  in  social 
or  military  warfare,  unity  of  thought  and  action  can  come 
only  through  unity  of  organization.  That  is  the  great  les- 
son railroad  men  have  yet  to  learn. 


40  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

Insufficiency  of  Railroad  Federation 

But  railroad  workers  have  no  need  to  look  afield  for 
weaknesses  of  federation.  The  history  of  our  own  organ- 
izations is  replete  with  such.  One  of  many  illustrations 
that  may  be  cited  was  the  great  Illinois  Central-Harriman 
Lines  strike.  That  affair  was  a  glaring  illustration  of  the 
divided  authority  and  lack  of  solidarity  produced  by  feder- 
ation. There  was  the  customary  manifestations  of  craft 
selfishness  at  the  expense  of  the  general  interest ;  the  same 
unwillingness  of  the  various  organizations  to  concede  the 
necessary  control  to  the  federation;  the  same  planlessness 
and  confusion  in  financing  and  directing  the  walkout.  It 
was  truly  said  that  there  were  nine  craft  strikes,  rather 
than  one  general  strike.  From  first  to  last  the  various  of- 
ficials, jealous  of  their  respective  prerogatives,  quarrelled 
bitterly  among  themselves.  Charges  of  indifference,  sa- 
botage, and  sell-out  flew  back  and  forth  between  them. 
Torn  with  dissention,  the  whole  movement  constantly 
faced  disruption.  Under  such  circumstances,  so  typical  of 
federation,  a  really  effective  strike  was  altogether  out  of 
the  question.  All  chances  for  victory  went  glimmering. 
Defeat  resulted. 

But  could  a  more  damning  argument  be  found  against 
federation  than  our  present  situation?  The  employers 
have  declared  war  to  the  knife  against  the  unions.  And 
the  latter,  despite  the  many  federations,  are  cringing  under 
the  blow,  unwilling  and  incapable  of  helping  each  other. 
The  railroad  owners  select  one  union  or  group  of  unions 
after  the  other  and  give  them  a  beating,  while  the  others, 
safe  from  attack  for  the  moment,  refuse  to  go  to  the  at- 
tacked ones'  assistance.  Thus  the  transportation  unions 
stand  about  shrugging  their  shoulders  while  the  shop 
unions  have  their  national  agreement  taken  away  from 
them.  And  in  turn  the  shop  unions  consider  it  none  of 
their  funeral  when  the  Stationary  Firemen,  Maintenance 
of  Way,  and  other  groups  lose  the  eight-hour  day.  Thus 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  41 

S^ 

it  goes,  with  the  companies  defeating  us  piecemeal,  one 
section  after  another.  Divide  and  conquer  is  the  eternal 
motto  of  the  exploiter.  And  never  was  it  put  more  effec- 
tively into  practice  than  it  now  is  as  against  the  railroad 
workers. 

If  we  should  be  forced  into  a  strike,  as  well  we  may, 
how  would  it  go  with  us  then?  We  are  ill-prepared  for 
such  a  vital  struggle.  The  chances  are,  if  present  indica- 
tions do  not  lie  completely,  that  only  a  group  of  the  unions 
would  strike,  and  the  others,  with  characteristic  craft  sel- 
fishness, would  stay  at  work  and  thus  help  defeat  the 
strike.  But  even  if  all  the  sixteen  unions  should  strike  to- 
gether, which  is  most  unlikely  indeed,  the  situation  would 
be  critical  for  us.  Chronically  divided  by  their  craft  char- 
acter, the  organizations  would  go  into  the  fight  with  a 
fraction  of  possible  efficiency.  Instead  of  a  homogenuous 
machine,  we  would  have  sixteen  autonomous  unions,  each 
with  its  own  set  of  officers  and  each  its  own  will ;  sixteen 
sets  of  organizers  working  at  cross  purposes  with  each 
other  and  creating  endless  confusion ;  sixteen  different 
strike  relief  systems,  with  the  disruptive  condition  of  the 
richer  ones  paying  high  benefits  and  the  poorer  ones  none ; 
sixteen  headquarters  scattered  all  over  the  country  dab- 
bling in  the  management  of  the  strike  and  quarreling  with 
each  other. 

Under  such  circumstances,  inevitable  in  the  present  state 
of  our  organization,  limitless  confusion,  disharmony,  and 
weakness  would  result.  A  properly  conducted  strike,  one 
that  would  bring  out  the  real  power  of  the  workers  and 
give  them  better  than  a  desperate  chance  to  win,  would  be 
impossible.  It  would  be  the  steel  strike  and  the  Illinois 
Central-Harriman  Lines  strike  all  over  again,  only  this 
time  on  a  far  larger  scale.  Of  course,  such  a  strike  might 
be  won.  But  if  victory  did  come  it  would  be  due  to  the 
weight  and  stragetic  position  of  the  workers,  and  not  to 
the  skill  shown  in  organization.  And  the  winning  would 
amount  to  only  a  fraction  of  what  it  would  if  the  workers 


42  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

were  really  united.  But  the  strike  might  also  be  lost. 
This  is  the  chance  that  cannot  be  taken.  If  we  are  going 
to  have  a  general  struggle  the  workers  must  go  into  it 
properly  organized  and  prepared  to  effectively  support  each 
other  to  the  limit. 

Federation  must  give  way  to  amalgamation,  just  as  iso- 
lation gave  way  to  federation.  There  is  no  other  way  out 
of  it.  In  the  phase  of  isolation  the  unions,  in  spite  of  their 
handicaps,  made  considerable  headway  and  abolished  many 
abuses.  In  federation  they  have  vastly  increased  their 
power  and  established  conditions  that  amount  to  a  semi- 
revolution  in  the  railroad  industry.  But  infinitely  greater 
tasks  lie  ahead,  tasks  that  will  demand  the  utmost  unani- 
mity of  purpose  and  action  from  the  whole  army  of  rail- 
road workers.  And  this  unanimity  federation  cannot  give. 
So  long  as  the  unions  remain  autonomous  bodies,  each  with 
its  own  set  of  officers,  just  that  long  will  they  stand  first 
for  their  respective  craft  interests,,  to  the  detriment  of  the 
general  welfare,  and  just  that  long  will  real  unity  among 
railroad  men  be  impossible.  This  can  only  be  had  when 
the  unions  are  all  amalgamated  into  one  body.  Then  the 
resultant  organization,  with  one  set  of  officials,  one  in- 
terest and  one  goal,  will  develop  such  tremendous  power 
that  the  workers  will  be  able  to  make  real  progress  on  the 
long,  hard  road  to  emancipation. 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  43 

CHAPTER  V. 
A  PLAN  OF  AMALGAMATION 

When  American  railroad  men  embark  upon  the  amalga- 
mation of  all  their  trade  unions  into  one  industrial  union 
they  will  not  be  pioneers  blazing-  a  trail  through  an  un- 
known wilderness.  On  the  contrary,  they  will  be  setting 
forth  on  a  well-travelled  road,  long  since  gone  over  by  the 
railroad  workers  of  France,  Italy,  England,  Russia,  Ger- 
many, Belgium,  etc.,  on  their  way  to  freedom — for  in  all 
these  countries  all  classes  of  railroad  workers,  save  an  oc- 
casional craft  fragment  here  and  there,  are  to  be  found  in 
single  organizations.  In  fact,  the  United  States  is  the 
only  important  country  in  the  world  where  the  industrial 
form  of  union  is  not  predominant  among  railroad  workers. 
Here  alone,  where  the  need  for  solidarity  is  greater  than 
anywhere  else,  is  the  antiquated  craft  type  supreme — which 
does  not  speak  well  for  our  spirit  of  progress. 

In  considering  measures  to  be  taken  by  us  for  amalga- 
mation we  will  do  well  to  bear  in  mind  the  experiences  of 
railroad  workers  of  other  countries.  Great  Britain,  for 
instance,  contains  a  lesson  for  us.  In  that  country,  it  is 
true,  the  railroad  organizations  are  not  so  completely  in- 
dustralized  as  they  are  in  Continental  Europe ;  but  the  gen- 
eral conditions  of  unionism  are  so  similar  to  those  here 
and  the  British  unions  have  made  so  much  progress 
towards  industrial  organization,  that  their  achievements  in 
this  direction  should  prove  valuable  to  us  as  a  criterion. 

The  National  Union  of  Railwayman 

The  basic  organization  on  British  railroads  is  the  N%- 
tional  Union  of  Railwaymen  (N.  U.  R.),  which  includes  all 
classes  of  railroad  workers.  But  it  has  not  yet  succeeded 
in  completely  industrializing  the  situation.  The  Associated 
Society  of  Locomotive  Engineers  and  Firemen,  which  con- 


44  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

trols  a  portion  of  these  two  crafts,  remains  separate.  Like- 
wise the  Railway  Clerks'  Association;  but  between  this 
organization  and  the  N.  U.  R.  complete  understanding-  ex- 
ists. The  two  would  amalgamate,  but  it  is  felt  that  inas- 
much as  the  Clerks  still  have  something  of  a  "white  collar 
psychology,"  it  may  be  better  to  let  them  go  alone  until 
they  know  more  about  unionism  and  can  stand  fusion  with 
the  mass  of  less  genteel  workers.  However,  both  unions 
work  in  closest  co-operation.  Besides  the  two  separate 
craft  groups  there  is  also  a  dispute  over  the  shop  men,  the 
metal  trades  unions  putting  in  claims  for  and  organizing 
numbers  of  these  workers.  But  this  difference  bids  fair  to 
be  settled  along  industrial  lines.  Notwithstanding  these 
ragged  edges,  however,  the  N.  U.  R.,  with  its  industrial 
structure,  is  overwhelmingly  the  most  important  union  on 
the  railroads.  Having  over  400,000  members,  or  about 
four-fifths  of  all  organized  railroad  workers,  and  enjoying 
great  prestige,  it  dominates  the  whole  situation.  It  may 
well  serve  as  a  type  for  us  to  go  by. 

The  National  Union  of  Railwaymen  is  the  product  of  an 
evolution  essentially  the  same  as  that  which  American  rail- 
road unions  are  now  going  through.  It  experienced  the 
three  familiar  phases  of  isolation,  federation  and  amalga- 
mation. At  first  the  various  craft  unions  went  it  alone, 
with  the  usual  unsatisfactory  results.  Then  they  tried 
federation;  but  that  developed  the  same  failings  as  it  does 
here :  the  organizations  wrangled  among  themselves  and 
lacked  the  power  that  comes  from  real  unity.  So  finally 
the  three  most  important  among  them,  the  Amalgamated 
Society  of  Railway  Servants,  the  General  Railway  Work- 
ers' Union,  and  the  United  Signalmen  and  Pointsmen,  fused 
themselves  together  and  formed  the  National  Union  of 
Railwaymen. 

This  was  in  1913.  The  effect  of  the  amalgamation  was 
electric.  Immediately  the  whole  movement  leaped  to  the 
front.  When  the  amalgamation  took  place  the  three  com- 
bining unions  had  156,000  members ;  eighteen  months  later 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  45 

the  new  organization  had  300,000.  A  new  spirit  seized 
hold  of  the  railroad  workers.  For  the  first  time  they  were 
able  to  give  unified  expression  to  their  needs  and  their 
power.  They  marched  forward  amazingly,  and  today  their 
union  stands  in  the  very  forefront  of  the  British  labor 
movement.  It  is  playing  a  part  in  the  industrial  life  of 
Great  Britain  such  as  the  old  railroad  craft  unions  hardly 
dared  dream  of.  The  organization  of  the  N.  U.  R.  marked 
a  new  day  for  British  railroaders. 

The  National  Union  of  Railwaymen  is  an  industrial  union 
in  the  true  sense  of  the  word.  For  all  the  classes  of  work- 
ers under  its  jurisdiction  it  has  one  general  headquarters, 
one  set  of  officials,  one  financial  system,  and  one  point  of 
view.  Of  its  organization  machinery,  which  is  strictly 
modern  in  type,  a  very  important  feature  is  the  manner 
in  which  it  ascertains,  harmonizes  and  defends  the  in- 
terests of  its  variegated  membership.  To  do  this  properly 
is  always  a  big  problem  for  broad-sweeping  unions  of  the 
industrial  type — to  at  once  give  expression  to  the  many 
crafts,  and  yet  to  avoid  the  bitter  wranglings  that  ruin  the 
efficiency  of  the  unions  in  the  two  primitive  stages  of  iso- 
lation and  federation.  In  fact,  it  is  to  solve  exactly  this 
problem  that  industrial  unions  are  called  into  being,  and 
their  value  is  to  be  measured  by  the  degree  in  which  they 
succeeded  with  its  solution. 

The  National  Union  of  Railwaymen  deals  with  this  situa- 
tion through  a  departmental  form  of  organization — similar 
to  that  of  other  European  industrial  unions.  Its  national 
executive  committee  is  composed  of  four  sections,  con- 
forming to  natural  divisions  of  the  industry;  viz.,  (1)  Lo- 
comotive, (2)  Traffic,  (3)  Goods  and  Cartage,  C4)  Engineer- 
ing Shops  and  Permanent  Way.  Each  section  numbers 
six  men,  or  twenty-four  for  the  whole  committee.  The 
effect  of  this  is  to  give  all  the  trades  adequate  representa- 
tion, so  that  their  interests  may  be  intelligently  looked 
after  at  all  times. 

In  framing  wage  and  other  demands  each  section  works 


46  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

out  its  own  proposition  and  then  submits  it  to  the  whole 
committee  to  pass  on  before  it  is  incorporated  in  the  gen- 
eral demands — which  in  turn  have  to  be  ratified  by  either 
an  annual  or  a  special  convention.  Experience  shows  that 
these  trades  sections  are  able  to  agree  upon  a  common 
program  and  to  give  each  other  a  square  deal  much  more 
readily  than  would  a  group  of  federated  trade  unions.  Very 
few  disputes  occur  between  the  departments.  This  is  be- 
cause all  the  workers  are  members  of  one  organization, 
which  is  shot  through  and  through  with  the  conception 
of  the  welfare  of  the  general  mass  of  railroad  men.  Nar- 
row craft  selfishness,  always  fostered,  developed  and 
strengthened  by  separate  organizations,  is  conspicuous  by 
its  absence  in  the  industrial  union.  There  is  a  distinct  get- 
together  tendency,  a  decided  urge  for  solidarity.  The  gen- 
eral practicability  of  the  system  is  shown  in  the  wonderful 
growth  and  influence  of  British  railroaders  since  the  organ- 
ization of  the  National  Union  of  Railwaymen. 

Locking  the  Unions  Together 

In  joining  their  forces  into  one  common  body,  as  inevit- 
ably they  must  sooner  or  later,  American  railroad  unions 
will  do  well  to  adopt  a  departmental  form  similar  to  that  of 
the  N.  U.  R.  Such  a  system  would  make  for  order  and  power 
throughout  the  entire  union  structure.  In  fact,  it  is  the 
most  practical  and  efficient  method  yet  evolved  to  handle 
so  many  categories  of  workers  as  are  to  be  found  in  the 
railroad  industry.  Conditions  here  make  it  advisable,  how- 
ever, that  for  a  time  at  least  there  be  more  departments  in 
the  proposed  industrial  union  than  there  are  in  the  N.  U.  R. 
For  it  is  idle  to  suppose  that  our  highly  individualistic  craft 
unions,  accustomed  as  they  are  to  so  much  autonomy, 
would  rush  into  an  industrial  union  that  would  at  once 
wipe  out  their  trade  lines.  A  better  plan  would  be  to  as- 
similate them  gradually.  Therefore,  to  begin  with,  it 
might  probably  be  found  expedient  to  have  one  department 
for  each  of  the  amalgamated  organizations.  This  would 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  47 

be  no  very  serious  disadvantage.  And  then,  later  on,  when 
the  varous  trades,  through  contact  with  each  other,  hal 
lost  their  narrow  craft  spirit ;  when  they  had  become  di- 
gested by  the  amalgamation,  the  number  of  departments 
could  be  decreased  to  conform  more  clearly  to  the  natural 
divisions  of  the  industry.  Closely  allied  groups  of  trades, 
such  as  the  Engineers  and  Firemen,  could  eventually  be 
placed  in  one  department ;  the  Conductors,  Trainmen  and 
Switchmen  in  another;  the  metal  trades  (as  fast  as  their 
organizations  amalgamated  nationally)  in  a  third,  and  so 
on.  Finally,  the  number  of  departments  could  be  cut  to 
eight,  or  if  necessary,  less. 

The  first  step,  and  a  mighty  important  one,  in  bringing 
about  the  proposed  amalgamation,  would  be  to  popularize 
the  plan  in  all  the  organizations  and  to  put  them  on  record 
in  favor  of  it.  But  let  us  suppose  for  a  moment  that  this 
big  job  had  been  accomplished.  Then  the  next  step  would 
be,  at  the  amalgamation  conference,  or  convention,  to 
throw  out  a  super-structure  in  front  of  the  whole  sixteen 
unions,  definitely  locking  them  together.  This  would  be 
done  by  creating  a  national  executive  committee,  based 
upon  the  departmental  system,  to  handle  the  affairs  of  the 
new  industrial  union.  In  a  pinch  this  committee  might  con- 
sist of  the  united  executive  boards  of  the  amalgamated  or- 
ganizations ;  but  the  part  of  wisdom  would  be  to  construct 
it  of  about  three  delegates  from  each  department;  or — but 
it  is  not  so  good  a  system — of  about  50  delegates  chosen 
by  the  various  departments  on  the  basis  of  their  respective 
voting  strengths.  Of  course,  the  necessary  general  offic- 
ers and  subcommittees  would  also  be  provided  for.  This 
would  lay  the  foundation  of  the  industrial  union. 

One  vital  thing,  the  very  essence  of  the  amalgamation, 
and  the  measure  without  which  it  could  have  no  meaning, 
is  that  the  individual  craft  unions  would  completely  sur- 
render their  autonomy  to  the  industrial  union.  Thence- 
forth the  latter  would  be  supreme.  It  would  formulate  the 
demands  of  all  trades,  present  them  together  to  the  com- 


48  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

panics  as  one  proposition,  and,  if  necessary,  strike  as  one 
man  to  make  them  prevail.  Craft  autonomy  would  be  a 
thing  of  the  past. 

The  process  of  industrialization,  begun  by  linking  to- 
gether  the  heads  of  the  trade  unions,  would  be  extended 
as  fast  as  possible  throughout  all  their  ramifications.  The 
local,  system  and  divisional  federations  would  be  extended 
to  conform  to  the  new,  closer  relationship.  Wherever  prac- 
ticable the  local  unions  would  be  actually  amalgamated. 
The  many  sets  of  officials,  national,  divisional,  system  and 
local,  would  be  gradually  transformed  into  one  homogenu- 
ous  force.  The  many  journals  would  be  combined  into  one 
powerful  publication.  Standardization  of  the  dues  and 
benefit  systems  would  be  introduced;  grading  the  dues  of 
the  various  departments  to  fit  the  differently  paid  classes 
of  workers,  and  preserving,  if  wanted,  the  heavy  insurance 
features  carried  now  by  the  transportation  unions.  A  free 
transfer  would  be  made  to  prevail  between  the  different 
departments,  and  also  a  standard,  uniform  initiation  fee, 
etc.,  etc. 

A  revolution  in  the  prevailing  convention  system  would 
be  necessitated.  Instead  of  sixteen  craft  conventions,  as 
there  are  today,  then  there  would  be  but  one  general  gath- 
ering of  representatives  of  all  classes  of  railroad  workers — • 
the  departments  would  not  have  either  the  need  or  the 
right  to  hold  separate  conventions  of  their  own.  The 
united  railroad  workers  of  America,  possessed  of  one  or- 
ganization and  one  will,  would  meet  in  general  national 
convention  to  work  out  their  common  problems.  Along 
with  the  obsolete  craft  conventions  would  go  their  equally 
obsolete  system  of  representation.  As  the  industrial  union 
would  be  a  huge  organization  containing  many  thousands 
of  local  unions,  naturally  the  local  union  as  a  basis  for  con- 
vention representation  would  have  to  be  discontinued. 
This  would  be  a  blessing  for  it  is  a  primitive,  expensive  and 
impractical  method.  A  much  more  fitting  unit  of  repre- 
sentation is  the  system  federation  now  used  by  the  Rail- 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  49 

way  Employees'  Department.  This  system  unit  would 
probably  be  adopted,  and  the  industrial  union  convention 
would  be  made  up  of  representatives  of  the  system  organi- 
zations, either  upon  the  basis  of  one  delegate  from  each 
department  of  each  system  amalgamation ;  or,  what  is  more 
likely  and  practical,  three  or  four  delegates  from  each  sys- 
tem amalgamation,  selected  by  general  election  and  with- 
out regard  to  their  respective  departments.  This  would 
at  once  insure  a  democratic  and  representative  convention 
and  keep  its  size  within  reason.  It  is  instructive  to  note 
that  the  big  National  Union  of  Railwaymen  of  Great  Bri- 
tain limits  its  annual  conventions  to  eighty  delegates, 
elected  at  large  from  the  various  districts  into  which  the 
organization  is  divided.  The  antiquated  system  of  local 
union  representation  is  not  recognized. 

Partial  Amalgamation 

The  foregoing  propositions  have  been  written  around  the 
thought  of  the  whole  sixteen  unions  making  a  concerted 
move  for  amalgamation — for  that  is  what  should  happen. 
The  proposed  industrial  union  should  contain  all  the  crafts, 
as  the  situation  demands  complete  solidarity  all  along  the 
line.  Each  of  the  organizations,  no  matter  what  its  spe- 
cial conditions,  has  at  once  much  to  contribute  to  such  a 
combination  and  much  to  gain  from  it.  The  amalgamation 
can  never  be  thoroughly  effective  until  all  the  railroad 
unions,  large  and  small,  strong  and  weak,  become  part  of 
it. 

But  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  unions  are  afflicted  with 
large  reactionary  elements,  who  block  every  progressive 
movement,  we  have  to  consider  the  possibility  that  all  of 
the  organizations  will  not  move  for  amalgamation  simul- 
taneously. It  is  very  probable  that  amalgamation,  like 
federation,  will  being  to  show  itself  first  in  two  or  more 
streams  among  the  closest  related  trades.  In  such  an 
event,  say,  where  several  unions  desired  to  amalgamate, 
they  could  do  so  exactly  along  the  general  principles  out- 


50  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STPE  » 

lined  above.  Thy  could  set  up  their  departments,  one  for 
each  of  the  amalgamating-  trades,  just  as  though  all  the 
unions  were  parties  to  the  plan.  Later  on,  as  the  out- 
standing organizations  woke  up  and  came  into  the  amalga- 
mation, new  departments  could  be  provided  for  them,  and 
representation  given  them  on  the  national  executive  com- 
mittee. The  foregoing  plan  is  feasible  whether  the  unions 
all  join  hands  at  once,  whether  they  first  form  several  sets 
of  amalgamations  among  themselves,  and  then  link  these 
together,  or  whether  the  various  trades  come  in  in  ones 
and  twos. 

Should  all  the  unions  amalgamate  simultaneously  one 
effect  would  be  either  the  remodelling  of  the  Railway  Em- 
ployes' Department,  along  the  lines  suggested  above,  so 
that  it  could  serve  as  the  national  executive  committee  of 
the  industrial  union '  (which  would  be  the  logical  thing  to 
do),  or,  in  failure  of  such  remodelling,  its  entire  elimina- 
tion as  superfluous.  But  should  the  unions  amalgamate 
piece-meal,  two  or  more  at  a  time,  the  Railway  Employes' 
Department  might  probably  continue  much  as  it  is,  with 
the  same  system  of  representation,  the  same  autonomy 
between  the  affiliated  organizations,  etc. ;  until  finally  the 
amalgamation  had  been  completed,  when  the  department 
would  be  faced  by  the  same  necessity  as  though  all  the 
organizations  had  fused  together  at  the  same  time ;  namely, 
remodelling  to  meet  the  new  condition,  or  abolition. 

Of  course,  such  partial  amalgamations  of  two  or  more 
trades  would  be  steps  in  the  right  direction.  But  they 
would  not  meet  the  needs  of  the  situation.  The  thing  that 
is  wanted,  and  the  thing  that  must  be  put  through  is  the 
amalgamation  of  the  whole  sixteen  railroad  unions  at  the 
same  time. 

The  Matter  of  Non-Railroad  Affiliations 

In  working  out  an  amalgamation  project  for  the  rail- 
road industry  consideration  must  be  given  to  the  very  im- 
portant fact  that  the  unions  therein  divide  into  two  dis- 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STPE  51 

tinct  classes:  (1)  those  whose  membership  is  confined  en- 
tirely, or  practically  so,  to  the  railroads;  (2)  those  that 
have  large  bodies  of  members  in  other  industries.  Of  the 
first  class,  or  purely  railroad  unions,  are  the  Engineers, 
Firemen,  Conductors,  Trainmen,  Switchmen,  Carmen,  Tel- 
egraphers, Clerks,  Signalmen  and  Maintenance  of  Way 
Workers,  ten  in  all.  Of  the  second  class,  or  semi-railroad 
unions,  are  the  Machinists,  Blacksmiths,  Boilermakers, 
Electrical  Workers,  Sheet  Metal  Workers  and  Stationary 
Firemen — six  in  all. 

Now  a  special  problem  arises  from  the  fact  that  amalga- 
mation would  affect  these  two  classes  of  unions  very  dif- 
ferently. In  the  case  of  the  purely  railroad  organizations 
the  matter  is  comparatively  simple.  Their  whole  member- 
ship would  be  involved  and  they  would  simply  merge  com- 
pletely with  the  industrial  union.  But  with  the  semi-rail- 
road organizations  the  matter  is  much  more  complex.  Only 
that  portion  of  their  membership  working  upon  the  rail- 
roads would  be  affected,  and  an  unmodified  amalgamation 
project  would  oblige  them  to  surrender  these  large  sections 
of  members  to  the  industrial  union. 

But  it  might  just  as  well  be  recognized  at  the  outset  that 
the  six  semi-railroad  unions  would  never  agree  to  that — at 
least  not  within  measurable  time.  In  trade  union  practice 
all  over  the  world  it  is  found  that  while  it  is  feasible,  al- 
though difficult,  to  get  unions  to  merge  together  com- 
pletely, it  is  next  to  impossible  to  induce  one  organization 
to  surrender  any  considerable  part  of  its  members  to  an- 
other. This  would  especially  be  the  case  with  our  six 
semi-railroad  unions.  Deeply  imbued  as  they  are  with  craft 
union  principles,  and  accustomed  to  fight  bitterly  over  the 
control  of  a  man  or  two,  they  could  be  depended  upon  to 
fight  to  the  last  ditch  against  giving  up  such  large  portions 
of  their  membership  to  the  industrial  union.  They  would 
wreck  any  amalgamation  proposition  based  on  such  a  pro- 
gram. 

However,  there  is  a  way  out  of  the  difficulty.     It  lies  in 


52  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

a  modified  amalgamation :  As  the  basis  of  their  refusal  to 
give  up  their  members,  the  six  semi-railroad  unions  would 
argue  with  great  weight  that  the  mechanics  have  not  only 
an  industrial  interest  as  railroad  workers,  but  also  a  craft 
interest  as  tradesmen.  They  would  contend  that  the  ma- 
chinist or  boilermaker  who  is  now  working  on  the  railroad 
may  be  working  next  week  at  his  trade  in  some  other  in- 
dustry;  and  that,  consequently,  he  has  a  direct  interest  in 
maintaining  good  conditions  for  his  craft  in  all  industries, 
and  a  moral  obligation  to  belong  to  the  organization  that 
is  doing  that  work.  Whether  right  or  wrong,  this  conten- 
tion would  have  to  be  met,  and  it  could  only  be  met  suc- 
cessfully by  giving  the  men  involved  a  double  affiliation 
to  correspond  to  their  double  interest.  That  is  to  say, 
the  shop  mechanics  would  at  once  be  affiliated  to  the  rail- 
road industrial  union  and  also  to  their  respective  craft 
unions.  The  two  unions  would  divide  between  them  the 
control  over  these  classes  of  workers,  each  organization 
reserving  the  functions  necessary  to  its  proper  working. 
Likewise,  they  would  apportion  the  dues  and  per  capita 
according  to  the  services  rendered  by  each  organization.* 
Already  there  is  a  beginning  of  this  system  in  the  Rail- 
way Employes'  Department.  That  organization  is  an  em- 
bodiment of  the  recognition  of  the  common  industrial  in- 
terests of  the  many  crafts  going  to  make  it  up.  It  is  con- 
tinually encroaching  upon  the  authority  of  its  component 
trade  unions.  It  has  succeeded  in  securing  a  large  meas- 
ure of  control  over  the  shop  mechanics,  together  with  a 
share  (all  too  small)  of  per  capita  to  finance  this  control. 
But  as  yet  only  a  start  has  been  made.  In  an  amalgama- 
tion along  industrial  lines  the  general  railroad  organization 
would  necessarily  exercise  a  far  greater  degree  of  con- 


*In  a  recent  agreement  between  the  Miners'  Federation  and  the  Amalga- 
mated Engineering  Union  of  Great  Britain  this  principle  was  recognized. 
The  A.  E.  U.  gave  the  Miners'  Federation  industrial  control  (strike  power) 
over  its  members  working  in  the  mines  together  with  a  portion  of  their  dues 
to  cover  the  cost  of  negotiations"  with  the  mining  companies.  In  return  the 
A.  E.  U.  members  were  given  cards  by  the  Miners'  Federation,  in  addition 
to  their  regular  A.  E.  U.  cards. 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  53 

trol  than  the  Railway  Employes'  Department  now  does. 
It  would  have  to  have  full  sway  over  the  bargaining  and 
striking  activities  of  all  the  railroad  metal  trade  workers, 
and  be  financed  with  portions  of  their  dues  to  correspond. 
Nothing-  short  of  this  would  do,  because  genuine  solidarity 
and  unity  of  action  is  out  of  the  question  in  an  industry 
if  one  or  more  outside  organizations  have  to  be  consulted 
and  harmonized  before  definite  action  can  be  taken. 

in  other  words,  the  industrial  union  would  handle  the 
immediate  interests  of  the  shop  mechanics  in  the  railroad 
industry,  and  the  craft  unions  would  look  after  their  more 
remote  interests  in  other  industries,  their  fraternal  bene- 
fits, etc.  Such  an  arrangement  would,  of  course,  throw 
the  weight  of  the  affiliation  to  the  industrial  union.  The 
railroad  metal  trades  worker  would  be  a  railroad  man  first 
and  a  boilermaker  or  machinist  second.  But  even  this 
double  affiliation  could  hardly  be  considered  final.  Sooner 
or  later  the  movement  would  reach  the  stage  that  it  has  in 
Continental  Europe,  where  the  shop  mechanics  usually 
belong  entirely  to  the  railroad  industrial  unions  and  have 
no  connections  whatever,  except  a  free  transfer,  with  the 
metal  trades  unions.  But  it  will  take  a  lot  of  education 
before  we  come  to  that.  The  bi-union  system  of  control 
will  probably  have  to  be  used  for  considerable  time. 


54  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

CHAPTER  VI. 
ADVANTAGES  AND  OBJECTIONS 

The  supreme  advantages  of  the  amalgamation  of  all  the 
railroad  craft  unions  into  one  industrial  union  would  be, 
of  course,  the  enormous  increase  in  economic  power  com- 
ing from  the  greater  scope  of  activity,  intensified  solidar- 
ity and  clearer  vision  of  the  larger  body.  From  a  series 
of  detached,  semi-organized  fragments,  incapable  of  out- 
lining a  real  general  program,  or  of  making  a  concerted 
fight  for  it,  the  army  of  the  railroad  workers  would  be 
transformed  into  a  co-ordinated  whole,  animated  by  a  com- 
mon purpose  for  every  man  in  the  industry  and  able  to 
exert  united,  tremendous  strength  to  achieve  it. 

But  there  would  be  other,  special  advantages.  One  of 
these  is  the  killing  of  the  dual  industrial  union  idea.  In 
Chapter  II  we  have  seen  something  of  the  ravages  caused 
by  this  idea ;  how  for  over  thirty  years  the  old  unions  have 
been  devitalized  by  the  loss  of  thousands  and  thousands 
of  first  class  militants  who  have  quit  them  to  start  new 
organizations.  And  unless  this  splitting  off  tendency  is 
stopped  it  may  well  result,  some  time  or  other,  in  a  general 
smashup  of  the  unions  that  will  set  them  back  for  many 
years.  Only  the  amalgamation  of  the  craft  unions  into  an 
industrial  union  can  put  an  end  to  this  standing  menace. 
Once  such  a  combination  is  brought  about  then  many  in- 
valuable militants,  now  lost  to  the  movement,  will  devote 
their  great  potential  strength  to  the  productive  work  of 
building  up  the  fused  organization. 

Amalgamation  would  also  stop  the  many  jurisdictional 
wars  that  now  sap  the  strength  of  the  railroad  trade  unions. 
Sidney  Webb,  a  well-known  English  labor  writer,  once  said 
that  trade  unions  lose  90  per  cent  of  their  efficiency  because 
of  fighting  among  themselves.  That  there  is  much  truth 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  55 

in  this  assertion  railroad  men  know  to  their  cost.  Who 
can  estimate  the  serious  injuries  wrought  our  cause  by  the 
long-drawn,  fratricidal  struggle  between  the  Trainmen  and 
the  Switchmen?  And  that  is  only  one  of  many.  Except 
for  amalgamation,  there  is  no  cure  for  such  jurisdictional 
disputes  between  closely  related  railroad  trades.  So  long 
as  these  trades  are  in  different  unions  (even  though  feder- 
ated) just  so  long  will  they  steal  each  other's  members  and 
work,  and  just  so  long  will  internecine  fights  go  on  be- 
tw^en  them  and  ruin  their  efficiency.  Only  when  they 
actually 'fuse  together  can  these  clashes  cease.  In  an  amal- 
gamated organization  there  are  no  separate  sets  of  officials, 
each  preaching  craft  prejudices,  and  each  trying  to  fatten 
its  particular  trade  at  the  expense  of  the  others.  On  the 
contrary,  the  officialdom  of  all  industrial  unions  is  homo- 
genuous.  Its  point  of  view  is  the  welfare  of  all  the  work- 
ers in  the  industry ;  it  naturally  seeks  the  elimination  of 
craft  narrownesses,  not  their  perpetuation.  Hence,  what 
few  spats  do  occur  between  the  various  groups  are  easily 
settled  in  a  spirit  of  brotherhood. 

Further  advantages  of  amalgamation  would  result  from 
large  financial  economies.  Merging  the  sixteen  national 
headquarters  into  one  would  make  a  great  saving.  Like- 
wise the  combination  of  the  sixteen  staffs  of  general  offic- 
ers and  organizers.  As  things  now  stand  the  waste  in 
handling  the  business  of  railroad  workers  is  enormous. 
Duplication  of  effort  occurs  to  an  unbelievable  extent.  The 
sixteen  groups  of  officials  run  over  the  country  without  re- 
gard to  each  other.  No  real  system  or  co-operation  exists 
anywhere.  Often  local  unions  of  one  organization  are  al- 
lowed to  fall  to  pieces  for  want  of  attention,  while  at  the 
same  time  a  half  dozen  paid  organizers  of  the  other  trades 
are  in  the  locality  and  not  over-burdened  with  work;  it  is 
a  common  occurrence  for  two  or  more  craft  system  chair- 
men to  travel  hundreds  of  miles  together  at  big  expense  to 
look  after  some-trifling  grievance  or  organization  detail  that 
one  could  attend  to  as  well;  and  so  on  with  similar  non- 


56  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

sense  that  a  modern  business  concern  would  not  tolerate 
for  a  second. 

A  general  amalgamation  woujld  speedily  straighten  all 
that  out.  The  work  of  administration  would  be  unified  and 
systematized  throughout.  With  the  departmental  system 
in  effect,  vice-presidents,  chairman  and  organizers  would 
look  after  several  (as  many  as  circumstances  permitted) 
categories  of  workers — for  everyone  who  has  had  contact 
with  industrial  unions  such  as  the  United  Mine  Workers 
knows  how  ridiculous  is  the  current  craft  union  notion  that 
an  official  can  represent  and  attend  to  only  one  trade,  his 
own,  efficiently.  The  saving  in  energy  and  money  from 
this  one  item  would  be  great.  Moreover,  the  railroaders' 
affairs  would  be  much  better  taken  care  of,  and  many  or- 
ganizers would  be  rendered  available  to  unionize  the  vast 
armies  of  non-union  workers  employed  in  the  independent 
railroad  equipment  plants  and  on  the  industrial  railroads. 

Additional  financial  economies  would  result  from  the  new 
convention  system.  The  present  order  of  things  is  ruin- 
ously extravagant.  Each  of  the  sixteen  organizations 
holds  its  own  convention  at  enormous  expense.  With  often 
as  high  as  two  or  three  thousand  local  union  delegates  in 
attendance  (most  of  whom  look  upon  such  affairs  as  mere 
vacation  trips)  the  cost  runs  -from  $100,000  to  $500,000 
apiece.  The  natural  result  of  such  absurdities  is  that  con- 
ventions are  becoming  fewer  and  fewer.  But  with  a  gen- 
eral industrial  union,  basing  its  convention  representation 
upon  the  system  amalgamation  instead  of  the  local  union, 
there  would  be  only  a  few  hundred  delegates  in  attendance, 
and  they  would  be  there  for  business.  National  assemblies 
could  be  held  annually  for  a  fraction  of  what  it  now  costs 
for  the  mass  craft  gatherings,  misnamed  conventions. 

Some  Objections  Answered 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  workers'  interests  there  are 
no  valid  objections  to  the  amalgamation  we  propose.  The 
bewhiskered  contention  that  the  various  crafts  of  skilled 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  57 

workers  would  be  swamped  by  each  other  and  especially 
by  the  masses  of  unskilled,  and  their  interests  neglected, 
was  exploded  long  ago.  It  will  not  bear  investigation. 
The  same  reactionary  cry  was  raised  when  it  was  urged  a 
few  years  ago  to  admit  helpers  and  handymen  into  some 
of  the  unions.  But  the  prophesied  dire  calamity  did  not 
happen,  nor  would  it  occur  in  the  proposed  amalgamation. 
All  over  Europe  there  are  industrial  unions  of  building 
trades,  metal  trades,  clothing  trades,  printing  trades,  rail- 
road trades,  etc.,  and  the  various  groups  composing  them 
function  freely  and  effectively.  It  is  a  matter  of  common 
knowledge  that  the  skilled  workers,  in  American  and  every 
other  country,  are  well  able  to  take  care  of  themselves  in 
any  kind  of  a  labor  organization. 

Those  who  fear  the  skilled  workers  being  overwhelmed 
reason  from  wrong  premises.  They  take  it  for  granted 
that  the  latter  have  a  free  will  choice  in  the  matter,  that 
they  can  co-operate  with  the  mass  or  not,  just  as  they  see 
fit.  But  this  is  decidedly  not  the  case.  With  the  con- 
stantly increasing  pressure  against  them,  the  skilled  work- 
ers can  no  longer  prosper  going  it  alone ;  they  are  com- 
pelled to  seek  the  assistance  of  each  other  and  of  the  un- 
skilled. It  is  a  question  of  compulsion.  By  force  of  cir- 
cumstances the  skilled  workers  are  compelled  to  compose 
their  craft  differences  and  to  act  with  the  mass.  At  first 
they  try  to  do  so  by  federation;  but  eventually,  because 
of  the  imperfections  of  this  type  of  organization,  they  are 
brought  to  amalgamation.  In  this  way  alone  can  they 
achieve  the  power  they  must  have.  With  the  skilled 
workers'  unions,  even  as  with  those  of  the  unskilled,  the 
alternative  is,  "Amalgamation  or  annihilation." 

Another  objection  (although  a  shameful  one  indeed  to 
come  from  a  movement  based  on  the  principle  of  "an  in- 
jury to  one  is  the  concern  of  all")  that  is  levelled  against 
all  projects  to  affiliate  the  trades  more  closely  together  is 
the  assertion  that  in  a  general  railroad  amalgamation  the 
strongest  organized  trades  would  have  to  pull  chestnuts 


58  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

out  of  the  fire  for  the  weaker  ones.  Because  the  skilled 
workers  have  been  unable  to  pierce  its  seeming  truth,  this 
pitiable  sophistry  has  served  to  wreck  many  a  promising 
get-together  movement.  Always  contrary  to  fact,  even 
when  some  of  the  trades  were  entirely  unorganized,  it  no 
longer  has  a  semblance  of  verity.  Today  every  branch 
of  the  railroad  service  is  so  thoroughly  organized  that 
even  the  blindest  cannot  help  seeing,  if  they  only  will,  that 
each  of  the  sixteen  unions  would  add  great  strength  to  a 
railroad  industrial  union.  Indeed,  some  of  the  trades  long 
considered  weaker  sisters,  are  now  in  a  position,  if  it  came 
to  a  struggle,  to  give  a  better  account  of  themselves,  than 
many  other  crafts  who  take  great  pride  in  their  skill,  or- 
ganization and  stragetic  position  in  the  industry.  There 
is  no  longer  even  a  pretense  of  a  reason  for  the  trades  not 
to  join  each  other  in  closest  alliance.  All  would  be  gainers 
from  such  co-operation. 

A  favorite  argument  against  every  improvement  in  the 
unions  is  the  contention  that  the  trade  unions  in  this  coun- 
try are  the  most  effective  of  any  in  the  world,  coupled  with 
citations  of  the  higher  wages  prevailing  in  the  United 
States  to  prove  it.  That  wages  are  higher  here  than  al- 
most anywhere  else  is  incontestable;  but  to  say  that  the 
superior  efficiency  of  our  organizations  is  responsible  for 
them  is  ridiculous.  Anyone  acquainted  with  the  facts 
knows  that  in  many  respects  our  movement  lags  behind 
that  of  Europe.  Rather  the  credit  for  our  higher  wages  is 
due  to  the  unprecedented  development  of  America's  mar- 
velous resources,  which  has  made  our  fight  easier  than  in 
other  countries.  But  in  any  event  the  more  we  improve 
our  unions  the  better  results  we  will  get,  and  amalgama- 
tion is  always  a  great  improvement. 

Old-time  craft  unionists  also  object  that  the  great  size 
of  the  proposed  amalgamation  would  make  it  unwieldly 
and  unworkable.  But  there  is  no  bottom  to  that  conten- 
tion either.  The  fact  is  there  are  many  such  gigantic  com- 
binations already  afoot  and  functioning  successfully,  and 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  59 

with  more  in  prospect.  In  Germany,  for  instance,  there 
is  the  monster  metal  workers*  union,  with  1,800,000  mem- 
bers, ranging  from  jewelry  workers  to  shipbuilders  and 
steel  makers.  The  German  railroaders,  who  are  organized 
chiefly  into  two  unions,  are  also  about  to  combine  (if 
they  have  not  already  done  so)  with  the  telegraph,  tele- 
phone and  postal  workers,  which  will  give  this  great 
transportation-communication  organization  more  than 
1,500,000  adherents.  The  British  mine  workers'  union 
numbers  almost  1,000,000  members.  Practically  the  entire 
Belgian  working  class  is  organized  in  twelve  industrial 
unions,  and  now  a  plan  is  being  put  into  effect  to  combine 
all  these  industrial  unions  into  one  gigantic  all-inclusive 
organization  to  cover  the  whole  working  class.  The  Aus- 
tralian trade  unions  went  on  record  recently  for  a  similar 
project.  The  possibilities  of  labor  unions  outstrip  even  the 
dreams  of  orthodox  craft  unionists. 

All  these  great  combinations  of  labor,  and  many  more 
that  could  be  mentioned,  have  grown  gradually  through 
voluntary  federation  and  amalgamation.  They  are  the 
fruits  of  practical  experience.  The  rapidity  with  which 
they  are  growing  and  multiplying  is  a  standing  proof  of 
their  superiority  over  the  primitive,  narrow  types.  The 
workers  composing  them  have  learned  through  actual  prac- 
tice that  only  by  massing  themselves  into  such  enormous 
aggregations  can  they  properly  defend  their  interests.  No, 
the  argument  about  size  will  not  serve.  If  European  work- 
ers can  successfully  construct  such  large  organizations,  so 
can  American  workers. 

A  more  powerful  objection  to  amalgamation,  however, 
than  any  of  the  foregoing  is  one  that  is  never  expressed 
by  those  holding  it ;  viz,  the  fear  of  the  higher  officials  of 
the  craft  unions  concerned  that  in  the  new,  more  econom- 
ically operated  industrial  union  they  will  lose  their  author- 
ity, and  probably  their  very  jobs.  This  fear  is  by  far  the 
most  serious  hindrance  to  amalgamation ;  it  always  does 
more  to  block  the  fusing  of  labor  organizations  than  any 


60  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

other  factor.  Few  officials  can  rise  above  it.  No  matter 
how  badly  amalgamation  may  be  needed,  the  almost  in- 
variable attitude  of  officialdom  is  to  fight  against  it  re- 
lentlessly. This  is  so  well-known  as  to  be  a  commonplace 
of  the  labor  movement.  Therefore,  all  over  the  world  gen- 
uine amalgamation  movements  have  to  surge  up  from  the 
rank  and  file. 

Unquestionably  there  would  be  considerable  justifica- 
tion for  some  of  this  job-fear  in  a  general  railroad  amalga- 
mation. Instead  of  sixteen  presidents,  as  now,  then  there 
would  be  only  one.  The  rest  would  have  to  play  second 
fiddle,  with  a  certain  restriction  of  their  power  and  prestige, 
and  also  a  very  probable  trimming  of  their  salaries  down 
to  more  modest  sizes.  But  as  for  an  actual  reduction  in 
the  number  of  officials,  that  does  not  usually  occur  in  amal- 
gamations. There  is  always  so  much  work  to  be  done  in 
an  organizing  and  administering  way,  and  the  amalga- 
mated unions  are  so  much  better  able  to  go  ahead  with  it 
than  were  the  individual  unions,  that  the  tendency  is  rather 
to  increase  the  staff  than  to  decrease  it.  But  let  that  be  as 
it  may,  earnest  railroad  union  men  will  never  let  such  con- 
siderations stand  in  the  way  of  the  combination  of  our 
many  weak  organizations  into  one  strong  one. 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  61 

CHAPTER  VII. 
IN  CONCLUSION 

In  the  foregoing  pages  we  have  pointed  out  the  militant 
aggressiveness  and  fathomless  greed  of  the  railroad  com- 
panies, how  they  are  seeking  to  enslave  their  workers,  and 
that  the  only  hope  of  the  latter  is  to  make  united  resist- 
ance as  one  great  army.  We  have  also  pointed  out  the 
glaring  weaknesses  of  the  unions  as  they  now  stand,  and 
shown  that  only  in  industrial  unionism  can  the  workers 
exert  their  maximum  economic  power.  But  we  have  like- 
wise indicated  the  folly  and  ruin  of  trying  to  achieve  the 
needed  industrial  union  by  going  outside  of  the  old  unions 
and  starting  new  organizations.  We  have  explained  that 
the  natural  development  of  labor  unions  to  the  industrial 
status  is  through  the  three  phases  of  isolation,  federation 
and  amalgamation ;  and  also  that  our  railroad  unions,  now 
in  the  federation  phase,  must  inevitably  pass  on  to  the 
next  one,  amalgamation.  And  finally,  we  have  outlined  a 
practical  plan  of  amalgamation,  citing  the  many  advantages 
that  would  come  from  industrial  unionism  on  the  railroads 
and  answering  the  alleged  objections  thereto. 

Now,  the  big  job  is  to  put  the  proposed  amalgamation 
into  effect.  This  can  be  readily  accomplished  if  the  multi- 
tudes of  progressives  and  radicals  in  the  railroad  industry 
will  put  their  shoulders  to  the  wheel.  Industrial  unionism 
through  the  amalgamation  of  the  sixteen  craft  unions  should 
be  made  a  live  issue  wherever  railroad  workers  congregate : 
in  the  shops  and  offices,  on  the  roads,  at  the  meetings  of 
the  local  unions  and  of  the  local,  system  and  divisional  fed- 
erations; at  the  national  conventions  of  the  Railway  Em- 
ployes' Department  and  of  the  individual  craft  unions.  The 
many  journals  should  be  filled  with  the  idea.  If  all  this 
is  done  it  will  not  be  long  before  such  a  body  of  favorable 


62  THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP 

sentiment  is  created  that  the  sixteen  unions  can  be  com- 
bined into  one,  and  the  amalgamated  organization  launched 
into  a  career  of  power  and  success  now  hardly  thought  pos- 
sible. 

Of  course,  the  standpatters  in  the  unions  will  vigorously 
oppose  this  amalgamation  project.  They  will  argue  that 
the  present  network  of  federation  and  semi-federation  con- 
stitutes the  highest  attainable  degree  of  solidarity.  But 
that  is  only  to  be  expected ;  such  reactionary  elements  are 
constitutionally  against  all  progress.  Blinded  by  ignor- 
ance, or  dominated  by  some  petty  selfish  interest,  they  have 
combatted  every  step  in  the  evolution  of  the  railroad 
unions.  They  are  apostles  of  things  as  they  are.  When 
the  system  federation  movement  began  to  take  root  they 
denounced  it  as  an  unnecessary  and  dangerous  innovation. 
It  was  the  same  with  the  divisional  federations  and  every 
other  progressive  movement  initiated  by  railroad  men. 
Such  conservatives  are  the  greatest  of  all  hindrances  to  the 
progress  of  the  working  class.  They  hang  like  a  millstone 
about  its  neck.  Their  opposition  is  more  destructive  even 
than  that  of  the  employers  themselves.  Had  we  railroad- 
ers hearkened  to  the  croakings  of  this  "it-can't-be-done" 
element  we  would  be  still  striking  one  craft  at  a  time  in 
each  division  town — that  is,  if  the  companies  had  not  de- 
stroyed all  semblance  of  unionism  in  the  meantime.  Every 
pace  forward  has  been  won  in  spite  of  their  bitter  opposi- 
tion, and  so  it  will  be  with  amalgamation.  To  accomplish 
that  task  is  a  job  for  the  progressives  and  radicals. 

But  while  we  are  working  for  the  amalgamation  of  the 
railroad  unions  into  one  industrial  organization  we  must 
never  forget  that  that,  too,  is  only  a  step  on  the  workers' 
road  to  power.  We  cannot  stop  with  that  measure;  we 
must  press  on  still  farther.  Next  we  must  form  alliances 
with  the  miners  and  transport  workers,  as  the  British  rail- 
roaders have  done  in  the  Tripple  Alliance,  but  more  effec- 
tive and  militant.  And  then,  with  that  accomplished'  we 
will  go  on  and  on,  building  up  still  greater  combinations  of 


THE  RAILROADERS'  NEXT  STEP  63 

Labor,  until  finally  we  have  the  whole  working  class  solidly 
united  in  one  militant  organization. 

The  trade  unions  are  more  than  merely  a  means  to  win 
a  few  cents  an  hour  more  in  wages  or  a  few  minutes  a  day 
less  of  work ;  they  are  battalions  of  an  army  of  emancipa- 
tion in  the  making.  The  greedy  railroad  autocracy  is  in- 
tolerable. It  must  go,  and  along  with  it  the  balance  of  the 
parasitic  capitalist  class.  Private  property  in  social  neces- 
sities must  be  abolished  root  and  branch.  There  is  no  other 
cure  for  our  industrial  troubles.  Then,  and  only  then,  will 
war,  poverty  and  exploitation  come  to  an  end.  To  do  this 
great  work  is  the  supreme  mission  of  the  labor  movement. 
At  heart  and  in  their  daily  action  the  trade  unions  are  rev- 
olutionary. Their  unchangeable  policy  is  to  withhold  from 
the  exploiters  all  of  their  product  that  they  have  the  power 
to.  In  these  days,  when  they  are  weak  in  numbers  and 
discipline,  they  have  to  content  themselves  with  petty 
acheivements.  But  they  are  constantly  growing  in 
strength  and  understanding,  and  the  day  will  surely  come 
when  they  will  have  the  great  masses  of  workers  organ- 
ized and  instructed  in  their  true  interests.  That  hour  will 
sound  the  death  knell  of  capitalism.  Then  they  will  pit 
their  enormous  organization  against  the  parasitic  employ- 
ing class,  end  the  wages  system  forever  and  set  up  the 
long-hoped-for  era  of  social  justice.  That  is  the  true  mean- 
ing of  the  trade  union  movement. 

(THE  END) 


Railroad  Men! 


Help  forward  the  cause  of  Amalgamation. 


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